Zoom Video Meets Cause Rise in Plastic Surgery
Zoom Dysmorphia seems real.
In coronavirus times, when the majority of people are forced to do work from home, there has been a tremendous rise in the number of zoom meetings. Most of these meetings are video meets that cause the people to see themselves for a longer duration of time. This causes people to judge their appearance more critically.
There has been a spike in the number of people going for plastic surgery in the coronavirus time and researchers have attributed the Zoom video meets as the possible cause for it. Upon looking at one’s face for hours, a person gets critical of one’s appearance that causes him to go for plastic surgery.
Detailed analysis
After the physical needs of a person are met, emotional needs become a priority. In the current world, the physical needs of the majority of people are met hence they give emphasis to emotional needs like:
- Being revered by others for their status and wellbeing.
- Getting praise for their appearance.
- Finding acceptability amongst their peers. This includes not getting criticized by anyone.
Earlier people would look at themselves for a few minutes in their mirror while getting dressed up in the morning. Hence they would not spend their time analyzing their appearance. With Zoom video meets becoming commonplace, people now look at their faces for hours. This causes them to invariably analyze their appearance and be critical of the features that they feel make them look inferior to others. This feeling of inferiority causes upheaval in their emotional wellbeing as they think:
- Issues with their appearance will cause them to be less revered by others even if they have more money and status.
- People on the other side of the video meeting would not like looking at their faces. Thus, their desire to find acceptability amongst peers is negatively affected.
- Their own self-image is negatively affected. They tend to hate themselves for their appearance.
All the above reasons cause people to find an instant solution. With the availability of plastic surgeons, people tend to flock to them for getting the desired results and restore their emotional wellbeing.
A false perception
People who believe their appearance is responsible for their emotional wellbeing are people who depend on others’ opinions about them. Relying on one’s appearance would give rise to fear and self-rejection in the person when:
- The person sees another person who has a better appearance.
- With time one’s appearance deteriorates. Nobody can change this fact.
True happiness comes when the person is unmoved by what others think about him and are happy for just being themselves.
Also in actuality, if a person is happy from within then others will also like him irrespective of his appearance.
The image of Mother Teresa that most of us have in our mind is that of a wrinkled old lady but whenever anyone thinks about her, he gets positive feelings for her. Mother Teresa was a happy person and did not need any plastic surgery to be appreciated by others.
It is generally a person who has some shortcomings such as being generally sad or in self-pity, that they go for getting approval from outside. This, in turn, causes them to go for plastic surgery.
Addressing the root cause
Self-rejection or self-pity which is the root cause for plastic surgery can be addressed through catharsis and refinement of the inner child. In this, the person re-experiences the old incident where he felt rejected and vent the anger out by means of fast breathing, etc. Then one can objectively analyze the incident and come to the conclusion that it is his self-rejection that was fueled by the other person. Loving oneself for who he is would go a long way in addressing the issue.
Example: Sara is a celebrity who has a lot of issues with self-esteem. She has a lot of subconscious fears and is generally not happy. In order to compensate for her shortcomings, she puts a lot of focus on getting approval from others by emphasizing her appearance. There were times where she was criticized for her flat nose. One such incident was when a rival celebrity ridiculed her in a press conference.
She lived with a sense of anger against her own appearance for a long time and when the Coronavirus time came she was involved in a lot of Zoom video meets where every time she saw herself in the meet, she had negative feelings for herself. She was about to go for plastic surgery when one of her friends suggested going for catharsis.
Sara re-experienced the incident involving the rival celebrity and vented out her anger by doing fast breathing, etc. Then she objectively analyzed the incident and came to the conclusion that it was her own self-rejection that caused her to take the incident so personally. She then worked upon all the reasons for her self-rejection on issues like having guilt feelings for not following the religious preachings, etc.
Upon addressing all major reasons for her self-rejection, Sara became a happy person. She did not give heed to what others think about her. Also, looking at her being a happy person, her critiques also turned into her favor. Thus all the reasons for her going for plastic surgery were removed and she became happy with whatever her appearance was. Details of catharsis are explained in the below articles:
The process of catharsis explained in terms of software development analogy
Does an empty mind make you feel restless?
One should not completely ignore one’s look as well. Sometimes it gives an indication that we are not living a healthy lifestyle. For issues like obesity, etc one can resolve to do some exercise as well. Doing so will improve one’s physical wellbeing. Going for surgery for such issues does not address the root cause and is an indication that we are dependent upon others for our wellbeing.
Conclusion
The self-rejection arising out of the increase in Zoom video meets is the cause of the rising number of plastic surgery. One should realize that one does not address the root cause of self-rejection through plastic surgery. It is through careful self-introspection and catharsis that one can get rid of the reasons behind reliance on others for one’s emotional wellbeing. Only then one can become truly happy.
