Tumblr Thoughts

I've never really written a post like this before, but after thinking about it for a while I decided to just do it. I don't intend to be deliberately controversial; maybe you'll disagree with what I think, but maybe you'll agree. I simply wanted to voice my opinion and see what you all think.

Recently I've been having a love/hate relationship with Tumblr. Don't get me wrong; I do like using it. There are so many funny gifs, gorgeous photographs and great quotes. The more I use Tumblr, the more I discover how popular things like fan-fics are, but the more I also see how there are other more negative communities on there. The one I have in mind is that of the obsession with body image, weight and our general appearance, the majority of which focuses on teenage girls of my own age.

If you're unfamiliar with this, then the images I have stumbled across are typically those of prominent collar bones, thigh gaps and extremely skinny figures, all with captions musing about how 'beautiful' it is, and how they wish they looked like that. To me this seems crazy. I completely understand that everyone has insecurities about their image, and I am certainly not an exception to that rule. However, I think it's a real shame that something with such a great concept such as that of Tumblr is being used to promote such an unhealthy image. I found this concerning when I read that the typical demographic of a British Tumblr user is, maybe unsurprisingly, female and between 18-24 years old. It also worried me that if I could stumble across them on my own dashboard without even searching for a specific tag, then how prominent are these images on the site?

So is this a problem? In my opinion it is. We always blame the Media for promoting unrealistic ideas of beauty, but I think that the Internet is also becoming increasingly responsible, especially due to image sharing websites like Tumblr. I don't want to point the blame on Tumblr, it is by no means alone in having this content, and it is also home to loads of great content.

Its important to remember how natural it is for our bodies to change as we grow! I think people strive to keep a boyish, shapeless figure and maybe we need to realise how everyone has different body shapes. What's most important is that your body is healthy, and that your mind has a good attitude towards a healthy lifestyle.

I'd love to hear what you think about this- have you experienced a body-obsessive culture on Tumblr or any other social networking site, and do you think it's a problem? I look forwarding to hearing what you think!