TikTok is that girl, but some say the other. is meant to promote wellness.
‘Surely you’re not that girl and you’re not good enough, if you don’t get up at 6 a.m.
She wakes up early, gets smoothies and maintains a daily newspaper.
The hashtag #Thatgirl alone at TikTok has more than 800 million views and is that girl, one of the latest trends on the social medias such as YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
The videos often show that young women like to wake up and eat their daily routines. The images are usually perfect — a bowl of sliced fruit with granola or matching training equipment.
The idea is to encourage others to make themselves the best versions. But some experts argue that the trend might be the opposite instead of empowering women to eat well and to be active.
Dr. Elian Abi-Jaoude, a psychiatrician at Toronto Sick Children’s Hospital said, “We don’t normally post random, representative snapp shots from their everyday lives.
“When you look at the most carefully curated videos constantly, you could think ‘When all the others do this, I should do the same.'”
A breakdown of ancient trends.
Although videos from That Girl became popular during the pandemic, there were similar versions over the years.
“We are going through phases constantly and this is the new term. It’s girlboss’s 10,000 planners a couple of years ago,” says the 23-year-old, Keiana Byfield, who creates YouTubes videos in Whitby, Ont.
Sophia Amoruso, founder of Nasty Gal, a women’s clothing distributor based in Los Angeles, made the term “Girlboss” famous in 2014. The term was used online to encourage women to do their best and to succeed financially.
Byfield says that the girl is not a trend that is inherently toxic.
“The question is how people see things,” she said. She said. “It’s all right to get inspired by bits of a trend, but you don’t have to be the whole thing.”
The perfect life to live.
Imran Rai, a 22-year-old Vancouver model who also creates Youtube video, tells young women that maquillage tutorials and morning routines had been shared before the last trend on sites like YouTube.
However, she says the difference with the videos for The Girl is that young women don’t share their routines, they aspire to an idealized version of what a perfect woman does.
“It began with morning routines and moved to what the girl had dinner for,” Rai said.
“Now, people follow someone’s whole day structure.”
Rai, who talks about disordered eating in the past on her YouTube channel, says that she knows how social media drives feelings about insecurity and mental health.
“What are your accounts and how they make you feel when you are on social media?” she said. “We have to be very sensitive.
A 22-year-old from London, Ont., Jillian Murray posted a video on YouTube in May that highlighted trend problems.
“I find it’s feeling bad for me. There appears to be only one way to be productive,” she said.
“You’re not that girl, if you’re not getting up at 6 a.m. and you’re not good enough.”
There is a lack of anything
Vanessa Faga, a Montreal 21-year-old who posts TikTok’s That Girl content, said she had a different experience.
She says that having a daily routine and sharing with others helps to keep her motivated and she wanted to do something long before the routines under the That Girl label were introduced.
“Every morning I woke up and I felt something was missing,” she said.
“The morning was up for me and a smoothie was made. Those habits contributed to my personal development and made me feel better. In my daily life, I was motivated to see other people and have to live healthier habits.”
A slippery element
These trends can still make women feel insufficient, said Toronto-based psychology associate professor Jennifer Mills.
“We can see from our research that [fitness or wellness] does not trigger or encourage positive behavior as much as it gives rise to feelings of insufficiency,” Mills said.
“I’m insufficient,’ ‘I’m not healthy,’ ‘I do not thin sufficient.’ This type of social comparison can ultimately make women feel worse.
She said, however, even this cannot stop women from maintaining the content.
“There might be the search for tips, information or counseling, but it might also be more unconscious,” Mills said.
“What would be a wonderful living if you ate healthy foods and lost weight, you could just fantasize. It’s this element of escapism.”
