The Internet Is More Image-Focused Than Ever
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How did Natalie and Julie’s conversation with Sophie Gilbert begin and why does it matter?
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Hi mom, it's Natalie.
Hi.
Can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear ya. We're working on um an episode. It's about bodies and we did an interview that was all about like what's happening online at this exact moment in terms of body image, etcetera. And I just wanted to tell you a story about um something like I really remember from when I was little. Okay, sure. Go ahead. There was this day that you and I were in stop and shop together. Which was most days.
At least for me,
yes. Julie, that's my mom. Hi Natalie Brennan. And we are going to get back to my mom. But first, I'm Natalie Brennan, a producer at The Atlantic. And I'm Julie Beck, a staff writer at The Atlantic. This is how to touch grass.
Julie, this is not an uncommon scenario. I call my mom, put her on the spot with some big story or question, and ask her what she makes of all of it. You know how there was all of the magazines at the checkout aisle? Yeah. Yeah. This was like the early two thousands, so I'm sure they were just covered with images of women's bodies or celebrities' bodies. Yeah. And I I was probably like really longingly looking at these women and like sighing and being frustrated. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah. And you were so direct and like totally saw what I was doing and were just like This is these people's jobs. Their work is making sure that they look like this. They have full time nutritionists. They have full-time trainers trainers, yep.
Mm-hmm.
Like this is their life. and their lives kind of exist in these magazines and our lives kind of exist in this different world. Right. Right. Mm-hmm. And I remember at that age being like, that's a very helpful distinction for me. Right. I just feel like that conversation must be so different between parents and children today.
Right.
What was the early‑2000s “body‑positivity” moment and how did magazines shape it?
Because I don't know that that delineation exists anymore.
Which is sad because, you know, like you on the checkout line, kids kinda look to what's happening in society to kind of gain a little bit of a identity outside of their family, let's say, right? Right, right. And it's not just walking on the supermarket line and looking at magazines. It's on your phone, it's on your computer, it's like everywhere so I feel like you know maybe some of the good progress that I've got.
Julie, my mom and I went back and forth about this memory, about how things have really changed in my lifetime from, you know, magazines to social media to the place that we're at online
now. I mean, magazines to online I feel like was maybe chapter one of a transformation. Like we've been online for a while now, right?
Yeah.
And yet I feel like the transformation is not over. Like somehow lately we're entering a new chapter where the pressure of the body image stuff that we see online feels even more inescapable today than it did just a few years ago.
Well, I'm really curious about this feeling that I've also been having lately, which is this question of yeah, is there something specific about this exact moment on the internet that is making us feel worse about ourselves? Because yes, it it does feel like we are in this new chapter, but what is it? What changed?
Natalie, when you and I were planning this season, we knew that we wanted to talk about the effect of the internet and social media algorithms on our relationship with our bodies. And we both knew immediately that the person we had to talk to about that was our colleague Sophie Gilbert.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Natalie and Julie’s conversation with Sophie Gilbert begin and why does it matter?
0:02–3:16
2
What was the early‑2000s “body‑positivity” moment and how did magazines shape it?
3:16–8:46
3
How did the rise of social‑media algorithms change what we consider a “normal” body?
8:46–13:23
4
Why are skinny‑ideal influencers and GLP‑1 drugs reshaping beauty standards today?
13:23–17:37
5
What role do cosmetic procedures and “looksmaxxing” play in the current image‑focused culture?
17:37–22:13
6
How are men experiencing the same pressure to conform to extreme beauty ideals?
22:13–27:54
7
What strategies do the hosts suggest for pushing back against relentless visual perfection?
27:54–32:46
8
Is the solution to “touch grass” an offline detox, cultural change, or both?
32:46–37:22