As society becomes ever more aware of the importance of mental health, we have also devoted our attention to the importance of self-care. Relatively self-explanatory, “self-care” is the act of consciously and deliberately focusing on one’s well-being to support one’s mental health. It originated as a medical term for those who required a higher level of personal care, such as the elderly and those with mental illness. According to Slate magazine, the term became political in the 1960s and the 1970s when women and people of color used self-care as an act of resistance against the white and patriarchal medical system that ignored their needs.

Self-care saw another political resurgence in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks as an antidote to the collective trauma that America experienced, and again in 2016 after the presidential election. Countless articles and blog posts began appearing, urging readers to take care of themselves. On Nov. 9, just one day after the election, Bustle online magazine recommended its readers to make to-do lists, practice saying “no” to others’ demands, drink more water, re-read their favorite book, and do yoga in the morning, among others, in an article titled “15 Little Ways To Practice Self-Care And Improve Your Mood.”

Over the past couple of years, and especially this past summer, another definition of “self-care” has emerged through hundreds of self-care Instagram accounts run primarily by teenaged girls and rooted in insecurities coupled with a wish for self-betterment. This new definition of self-care as self-betterment is dangerous and heartbreaking and ultimately reveals some of the standards that we place on teenage girls and how deeply girls internalize them.

After scrolling through thousands of self-care posts from four different accounts, a clear pattern emerged: almost every self-care post falls under the category of dieting/food, workouts/body improvement, makeup/skincare, fashion advice, study habits/school advice, personality/social habits, and mental health. Every single category focuses not on supporting one’s well-being but in different areas of self-improvement. While some forms of self-improvement are benign or even beneficial, such as helpful study tips, others either encourage unhealthy thinking or promote unrealistic expectations.

By far the most concerning, and among the most frequent, posts are those that fall under the “workouts/body improvement” category. Hundreds of posts with titles such as, “7 day flat stomach challenge,” “How to get a bigger butt in 2 weeks,” “How to get slimmer thighs/a thigh gap,” “How to grow your boobs,” and “How to have an hourglass body” flood nearly every “self-care” Instagram feed. Some of these posts are factually incorrect: there is no way to increase one’s breast size through exercises like push-ups, or by eating more tofu, and the shape of one’s legs, or their ability to obtain a “thigh gap” is dependent not on fitness but genetics and bone structure. By giving girls the unrealistic notion that they can change aspects of their body that are fixed, these “self-care” Instagram accounts are potentially setting girls up for an unhealthy body image and a feeling of failure and inadequacy.

Some accounts preface these posts with a disclaimer: “first [sic] of all,” Instagram account @slfcarebabe writes, “depending on your body type & genes it might be harder for your boobs to get bigger. so [sic] you should learn to love yourself regardless, also I’m [sic] not telling you that you need big boobs. there’s [sic] a pros & cons to big & small [sic].” These disclaimers, however, are empty and ingenuine. Writing a lackluster “disclaimer” does not remedy the fact that these accounts are posting factually incorrect threads encouraging girls to “improve” their body so that they fit society’s standards of beauty and worth—all under the masquerade of “self-care.”

While some posts can provide helpful outfit inspiration or study tips, the vast majority perpetuate insecurity and impossible standards in teenage girls. Even those posts which are benign or helpful do not qualify as self care. These Instagram accounts, much like many forms of influential media, profit off of girls’ insecurity and false hope, all while claiming that they are promoting “self-care.” By doing so, they not only reinforce society’s impossible standards but convince girls that hating their bodies (or their personalities, or their skin, or any other aspect of their beings that these posts target) is a form of self-care.