Another day, another trend showcasing just how dumb the Millennial generation can be. The latest “beauty trend” is the #A4WaistChallenge where women are told that they are only “skinny” enough if they can’t see their waist outside of the A4 printer paper. You did not read that wrong.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BC_kdbCkncf/?taken-by=ryz.jr
The entire beauty “challenge” has sparked controversy for a good reason. The idea that you are only sexy if you can hide behind a piece of paper is absolutely ridiculous and honestly disgusting.
#A4WaistChallenge ??! As a mother of 2 young girls I worry about the damaging effects of mindless social media! #BodyPositivity
— Logan's Run (@BAMR_beverley) March 17, 2016
Our generation has so much potential, and power when it comes to social media and the Internet. With all the opportunities to spread body love, and positivity – we still continue to blow up “challenges” or trends that promote negativity or just plain ridiculousness. The #A4WaistChallenge is not the first social trend that has popped up regarding beauty standards. How about the Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge where girls were injuring themselves and going to the hospital in an attempt to get Kylie’s lips?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g4M2xnStSw
In all honesty, WHERE DO PEOPLE COME UP WITH THINGS LIKE THIS?
We promote and attempt challenges that ideally hinder our ability to grow as an individual. The reason why older generations worry about us is because of trends like this. It makes our generation look f*cking dumb. Even though we know how dumb it is to attempt or get involved in a trend like this – we still do it, and it is still given media attention. The best explanation of our generation on Internet trends would have to be by Zendaya on “Damn Daniel”:
“I was sitting there, thinking, is he going to fall or say something funny? Literally he just says ’Damn, Daniel,’ like 80 thousand times on a video. I do not get the humor. With that [part of] my generation, I don’t know what’s going on with us. Why is this a trending topic? I just feel bad for Daniel. Daniel is just trying to live! Poor Daniel.”
I’m asking the same question Zendaya. Trends are promoted because they are funny or random but what is their importance? How are they going to help us grow? How are they going to better our generation? The answer: they don’t do anything. So much positive efforts by Millenials such as the #icebucketchallenge are forgotten because stupid trends like this receive too much attention. It’s up to us to turn this around and make a positive change using social media because we are the future. We don’t want our future to be made up of trends that bring people down, or challenges that hurt people. Instead – promote trends that positively bring people together, or make us feel good about ourselves. It’s up to us to make a change, do better.
Featured image via Unsplash
