Our Heroes’ Story: Keisha and Teegan Simpson

Keisha and Teegan Simpson are twin sisters who started the Instagram account called Live Life Unfiltered. They wanted to reach out and talk about the negative impacts of social media and of curating our lives to post images. Starting with talking to their friends, they have now reached tens of millions of people. Dr. Renee Engeln is a Psychology Professor at Northwestern University and the author of Beauty Sick, a book about how the cultural obsession with appearance hurts girls and women. She joins us to discuss the idea of an unfiltered life. Her insights shine light on how culturally embedded our appearance concerns are.  
Minutes
1:46 How Keisha and Teegan felt pressured by social media to make it look like, “we were having a lot more fund than we were.’’ 
3:00 How the negative impact of social media in their own lives led them to the idea of Live Life Unfiltered
4:00 The research phase of their project, learning about both body image and how social media works.
4:25 Introducing their idea to their friends. Getting input and support.
5:20 Live life unfiltered on Instagram: from a challenge to friends to show unfiltered photos on social media
6:50 Expanding to the As She Is campaign: the massive work of getting celebrities and influencers to take part, reaching 100 million people on social media
7:50 How people connected to the As She Is message, even celebrities struggle with body issues. 
8:45 The importance of starting to see the many ways that we filter our lives.
10:15 Advice to others, if you have an idea ‘Just do it’. Don’t let you brain get in the way and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Our expert commentator Renee Engeln: Professor at Northwestern University and author of Beauty Sick,: How the cultural obsession with appearance hurts girls and women
12:40 How the concern of young women about appearance is a natural response to the culture. 
14:00 The floodgates of emphasis on appearance with the advent of photo-driven social media.
16:00 Awareness of the influence of social media and powerlessness. The benefits of being on social media versus the costs.  
17:00 Our drive to compare ourselves to others. How the tools to enhance images have become so readily available that we easily lose track of how people really look.
19:40 Moments of performance versus living life unfiltered, the need to find the people who accept as we are.
21:00 Consequences of believing in filtered images. How feeling that we fall short can contribute to mental health problems.
23:00 Media literacy. Knowing that images are filtered does reduce the impact of the comparison process. TAking fewer personal photos can diminish appearance concerns.
26:00 The impact of sharing real moments is different from the impact of sharing posed images.
27:30 Form versus function: What your body gives you versus what it looks like turns down the volume in how much we care about appearance.
30:00 Self compassion: you are not alone in this hurt; the culture does not serve you well.
32:20 For helpers, should we engage in body talk? Shifting to asking better questions, opening the door to meaningful conversations about values.
35:00 Social media is supposed to be about connection but is often much more, “Me. Me. Me.” How connecting to others is also self care. 
Renee Engeln
https://psychology.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/core/profiles/renee-engeln.html
http://beautysick.com/