A few years ago, social media was mostly a place to make new connections and share moments from your life. Fast forward to the present timeline, where it often feels like a giant performance stage where everyone is expected to look their best. Influencers and their vigorous morning routines, picture-perfect homes, weekly trips abroad, etc. have quietly redefined what many consider ‘normal’.But what is the matter? What’s normal online isn’t always realistic, affordable, or even necessary in real life. Amid all these trends, more and more women are starting to ask the bigger question: Are these choices really our own, or have social media quietly convinced us that they should? We spoke to women across age groups and professions who opened up about the online trends they feel have become unnecessarily normalised.

“The whole world has gone to the mountains except me.”

Social media has made it almost necessary for people to document everything that happens to them 24/7. Vacations, workouts, sleeplessness or even hospital visits belong on your Instagram stories. However, all this creates FOMO and a kind of jealousy in people. For 25-year-old Anushka, who lives in Noida, these frequent distant postings make her feel somewhat jealous and sad. “It feels like the whole world has gone to the hills except me,” she says. She adds, “I reach home after my office shift and when I scroll through my Insta feed, it’s full of people posting pictures from Himachal or Uttarakhand. I feel jealous of those people. They’re going on trips every month. I want to go too.” But most people need to understand that not everything on social media is completely true. Moreover, it is not practical for everyone to go on a trip every month. So, stop feeling like this is normal.

“I doubted my relationship because of social media”

Surprise luxury gifts, over-the-top proposals, perfectly coordinated couple content, etc. on social media present relationships as one long highlight reel. Sneha (26) admits that such content once made her doubt her relationship. “I would see couples posting Insta Reels every other day and wonder if there was really something missing in my life. I was doubting my relationship. “Then I reminded myself that no one posts arguments, stress, or slow Tuesday evenings,” she adds. Many women like her believe that influencer-style relationships set expectations that leave viewers quietly dissatisfied with perfectly healthy, normal partnerships.

“You can’t style your hair every day!”

Social media can also present influencers with great hair every time they appear. No matter what the hairstyle, their hair looks the same 24/7. Delhi-based journalist Manisha Gupta says, “Wolf cut, pixie cut, or bob; trust me, these hairstyles will rarely look good unless you style your hair every day… I’ve seen many influencers promoting these hairstyles like crazy, and personally I’ve tried a few of them myself.She adds, “But trust me, there is no guarantee that they will look the same in real life because you can’t style your hair every day! Sometimes you just want to get up, get dressed, and go.”

Pressure to always look ‘camera-ready’

Flawless skin, stylish outfits, neat nails, impressive beauty silently suggests that women should look put together at all times. Anjali, 24, a Delhi-based corporate employee, says this expectation has gradually eroded her confidence. “I started to feel bad looking tired after a full day’s work. Then it hit me, most influencers are filming under professional lighting, filters and carefully chosen angles. Real life should never have looked like this.Experts have also noted that exposure to idealized images over a period of time can change our perception of what normal appearance actually looks like.

Making productivity a personality

Wake up at 5 am, meditate, exercise, read, work out, go for a short run, network and start again. The Internet’s obsession with productivity has led many women to believe that every waking hour must be utilized. 24-year-old Srishti says she ultimately failed in her efforts to keep up with productivity influencers. “When I relax, I start to feel like I’m failing or lagging behind everyone else. It’s like a big race. Social media reassures me that I need to constantly grow and improve.“But this is certainly not the norm. Increasingly, women say they are pushing back against the idea that they need to achieve something nonstop in order to be considered worthy.

Over sharing of personal life for likes and attention

Influencers often grow their audiences by sharing intimate details like relationship troubles, family disputes, pregnancies, breakups, and personal crises. But not everyone sees this as a positive development. Experts say constantly seeking approval from strangers online can be emotionally draining. Many women believe that social platforms are rewarding those who share the most, even though choosing privacy would clearly be a healthy decision.What makes influencer culture so effective is that it routinely disguises marketing as an aspiration. Most trends are tied to products, services or lifestyles being quietly sold to audiences. The result is a cycle that leads women to spend more, compare more, customize more, and share more. However, women across generations are becoming more thoughtful about who they follow, ditching accounts that promote comparison, and gravitating toward creators who show real, imperfect, unfiltered lives.Images Courtesy: Google Gemini