Take the Pressure out of Prom

Take+the+Pressure+out+of+Prom

Everyone is aware of the pressure that social media puts on life. Who has more followers, me or her? How many likes did my selfie get? Why did she comment on your picture but not mine? He liked who’s picture? I’m sure all of these questions have gone through every girl’s mind at least once. But now, social media has added pressure into a new aspect of life. Prom. Before the days of the internet, all that mattered was that you liked your dress. That it made you feel beautiful was really the only requirement for your dress. Now, girls are expected to share their dresses with everyone on social media before prom to make sure their choice is “okay” or to make sure that they don’t have someone else’s. Because, goodness gracious, the world might explode if two people accidentally had the same dress. The only thing that this really seems to do is open up a whole new world of anxieties.

 

The fear of judgement about something as simple as a fancy dress seems so silly if you take a step back and think about it. At the end of the day, it’s just a dress. Long, sometimes overpriced, fabric. Why do we make such a big deal out of what other people think? All that should matter is that you love your dress. As a society, we feel the need to always fit in. No one wants to do anything different because in today’s world, differences lead to judgement. Even if they aren’t saying it to your face, you worry that they’re talking about you behind your back. How can we get rid of this pressure? Unfortunately, pressure is always going to exist. People are always going to worry about how their hair looks. Some people will always be secretly comparing themselves to everyone else—that’s just a part of life. But what doesn’t need to exist is the social media pressure surrounding the enjoyable aspects of life.

The expectations surrounding prom (mainly set by social media) add immense pressure to prom. We, as students, are under so much stress on a daily basis. Prom is supposed to be a fun reward for all of our hard work. Finding a prom dress should not be a cause for stress. If you find a dress that you love, you shouldn’t have to worry about what everyone else thinks of it. The social media pages dedicated to showing off prom dresses cause more harm than good. They ultimately pin girls against each other, all for the sake of comparisons. Of course, as students in this day and age, the tendency to seek validation for everything we do extends even to expecting compliments on our prom dresses the second they are bought.

Before you go begin to shop or, if you’ve already got your dress, take a moment to breathe and realize that a dress has no bearing on your self-worth or self-esteem. It is not worth putting more pressure on yourself to fit into a standard. Instead, focus on the exciting event that’s soon to come your way. And if you still want to show off your dress, do it: wear it to prom!