The '90s yearbook trend is problematic
Why are we still subscribing to unrealistic beauty standards?
The 1990s are back. My social media feeds are awash with a ‘90s yearbook-inspired trend that is giving me unrealistic beauty standards, I’d rather we leave in the ‘90s. The trend, which has already amassed over 500M views on TikTok is deceptively harmless, social media users are using an AI image editing app to create a series of yearbook photos and posting them.
let me say what is hopefully on everyone’s mind: Nobody looks like that in high school. These are AI-enhanced adult faces superimposed onto thin, stereotypical bodies. These images aren’t just artificial, they are harmful.
For me personally, high school was a challenging time, marked by insecurities and peer pressure. I was bullied for being too short, and constantly poked for looking like a “child,” because a 15-year-old girl must look like a cover model.
And that’s it right there — these pictures make us all look like cover models. They normalize and reward unrealistic and narrowly defined beauty standards, and suggest that the key to building self-esteem is looking like AI Barbies, after even Barbie denounced its own problematic legacy.
In today’s world, it is so easy to internalize beauty ideals when we see them on social media. According to research published by the American Psychological Association in February, teens and young adults who reduced their social media use by 50% for just a few weeks saw significant improvement in how they felt about both their weight and their overall appearance compared with peers who maintained consistent levels of social media use.
I understand that this is a fun little trend, but the impact it will have on self-esteem and body confidence will outlast the hype. AI technology is still evolving and is far from grasping the nuances of body diversity and authenticity. When deployed as a profit-driven gimmick, as is the case with the yearbook feature, it's more about capitalizing on a trend than promoting body positivity and acceptance. My hope is that this trend sparks a larger conversation about breaking stereotypes rather than merely resurrecting them.
Here is an actual image of me from high school.