‘Glow Up’ culture and its effect on teenagers

By Al Rivers, ‘25

If you have TikTok, then you've most likely seen Glow Up or thirst traps videos - varying from trends such as "2 weeks off of school" or even "I am doechii with two eyes.” Of course, occasionally, one can find wholesome trends more about emotional 'Glow Ups'. An example is this caption from a TikTok, "You do not need weight loss for a Glow Up, just a lot of self-love." (@lilphizzle) In this video, she showed her emotional Glow Up, not her physical one, where these problems begin.

TikTok, Instagram, and other social media platforms have recently created an unhealthy look at Glow Ups. They are showing young girls going through dramatic weight losses. These can be post-breakup, labeled as "revenge Glow Ups".

This trend is damaging to many women because it pushes people to 'get' this ideal body type, which isn't always attainable. It may seem harmless since it looks like it's about self-improvement. But it isn't. This trend is unsafe since women are already forced to deal with society's fatphobia and disgust for marginalized bodies.

Glow Up culture, unfortunately, concentrates more on physical looks than self-love. The result is dangerous, adding pressure on how one should present themselves and causing people to find more aspects to hate about themselves. It also forces this idea into young people's faces since it’s prevalent on many platforms, including TikTok. It feels like these platforms are saying, "Look, this is what you need to change. Ever been insecure about your voice? No? Well, you need to change it because this girl is also insecure about her voice."

#GlowUp is trending on TikTok, with 44 billion views. That is five times the world's population. That is an impressive number, showing how many people idolize Glow Ups.

Most of the time, Glow Ups feature weight loss or a change to physical appearance in an effort to look like our society's ideal standards. It's a straightforward concept. You record your Glow Up across time and fit society's beauty norms in your final 'glowed up' self.

Even if it wasn't called Glow Up culture in the past, it's been around for a while. You may have seen this similar plotline in movies such as “Princess Diaries,” “Clueless,” or “She's All That.” These are all iconic movies from Gen-Z's childhoods, all about Glow Ups. It is creating an institutionalized norm.

According to this culture, even after you've changed yourself, there's something new you should change because trends have altered. Our society can't simply be content with getting rid of your acne or losing weight since suddenly bigger thighs are in, or more. You have to move on to the next thing because all these trends seem to show that you aren't enough, and with so many young people on TikTok, this obviously creates problems.

Thumbnail for youtube video by douxfairy

Glow Up culture is a clear destructive cycle since it perpetuates the idea that we are never enough. Many teenagers, especially in high school, push themselves to extreme diets. Still, there is no clear stopping point with this Glow-up culture. So saying that it's for a particular time is wrong. Once someone starts this, it is truly challenging to stop.

A local Portland high school freshman from Sunset High School was kind enough to comment on her own experience with Glow Ups.

“Most young teens are self-conscious, so by glowing up, they might feel that their image will improve to those around them,” she explained.

She added that Glow Ups are good to a certain extent, but they can be harmful with the pressure from social media.

She added, “When I'm not currently trying to Glow Up, there's always a nagging feeling in my head that I need to.”

Glowing up, in a sense, can add lots of pressure and create unhealthy relationships with things that shouldn't, for example, food. "I push myself too much every time I do it (referring to the Glow Up). I work out too much, from two-three hours at a time, get conscious of how much I eat, and sometimes develop a bad relationship with food, eating too little, and eventually, I burn out," she said.

Teenagers feel this extra pressure from others to force themselves to their limit, and people who struggle with body dysmorphia and self-esteem feel they are at fault. For a short period, posting Glow ups may make them feel a bit better, but soon after, the cycle starts again.

Later she stated, "I know how sweaty and disgusting I'll feel afterward, checking my stomach in the mirror, searching for that skinny dream I've always wanted." Many people can relate to this, pushing themselves to some extent and wanting results. Maybe for a paper, or for the exact perfect body.

There are clearly many problems with his culture. There's the problem of the blatant fatphobia and the toxic before and after. Why can't we love ourselves as we are? There's no issue with working on yourself. Yet, we seem to have created a bad relationship by doing so.

We need to try and stop this cycle, yet it's not really talked about unless you're up to date in this specific field. Leaving this trend and starting a new one is honestly the way to go. But our society has an obsession with Glow Ups, so how can we break away from that with a new obsession?

Most people cannot help but love watching Glow Ups, and frankly, they do not know why. My theory is that it has to do with our society's pretty privilege principle and how everyone is slightly envious of how someone could change that much.

All this "better version" is fatphobia again, and, as the anonymous teenager said, "Getting skinnier is the prime goal I always strive to achieve."

Glow Ups should be about learning about yourself and your personality. Not another wave of self-loathing for marginalized bodies and perfectly normal genetics.

However, how can we go to break down a trend?

Try to learn more about this subject with this article and focus on another aspect to love about yourself.