Take Action 2022: Confident Me

Social media has been linked to higher levels of loneliness, envy, anxiety, depression, narcissism and decreased social skills. As a Behavioral Scientist, I wonder what causes this paradox?

Instagram’s company motto is to “capture and share the world’s moments”—but only if these moments are airbrushed, filtered, and shot with the ideal selfie lighting. Whether it’s a celebrity's ultra-Photoshopped feed or your own careful edits, social media makes it easy to make your life (and your body) look way better on a screen.

In the age of social media, both individual and collective voices are amplified more than ever before. A panel of accomplished women’s advocates, moderated by Tiffany Dufu, Levo’s Chief Leadership Officer, have seen a wide impact on the confidence and self-esteem of women of all ages.

Social media plays an increasingly influential role in shaping our definition of beauty and Dove is passionate about creating a world where beauty inspires confidence, not anxiety. The Dove Self-Esteem Project will also host a thought-provoking panel discussion on the issue of body confidence in today’s image-obsessed culture.

Prestige Magazine surveyed over 50,000 women in the U.S. & Europe to take a in-depth look at the factors that undermine our confidence, self appreciation and love of self.

How do beauty and confidence go hand-in-hand?

As a woman, nine times out of ten, when you feel good, you look and it’s important to celebrate that feeling.

Women enjoy opportunities today that our mothers, much less our grandmothers, never had. My own mother stopped working after she became pregnant with my older brother. Neither of my grandmothers learnt to drive. None had the option to attend college. Yet despite this progress, many women still lag behind men on many markers — still struggle to ‘have it all’ or to at least feel to feel good about 'all' that we do have.

Researchers believe gender stereotypes hold women back in the workplace. Katherine Coffman's research adds a new twist: They can even cause women to question their own abilities.

We don’t enter the world with it. No one has it all of the time. Talking about it won’t help you gain it. I’m referring to self-confidence. We women have particular difficulty developing self-confidence. We instinctively focus on everyone but ourselves. So taking the time for self-development doesn’t come naturally to us. Girls often are encouraged to be passive, and not too daring or confident. After all, we don’t want to threaten all those guys out there!

Inequality in the workplace? Women need to lean in and become more confident. Eating disorders and poor body image? Programmes promoting girls’ confidence and body positivity are the solution.

Confidence can be a tough thing to build up. We've put together some handy tips to help you out. If you're still having a hard time even after trying these self-help ideas, don't worry! We’ve also listed the ways you can find extra support and work on boosting your confidence with the help of others.

research has shown that there are things we can do to boost our confidence, even when we’re not really feeling it. There are even studies on the power of engaging our body language such as when we practice power posing.