This post was updated Oct. 24 at 9:22 p.m.

Summer and winter breaks give Bruins extra time to pursue a number of activities, including transforming themselves.

The term “glow-up” – slang for a positive change in appearance, behaviors or skills – was popularized in the late 2010s on social media and remains relevant today. Makando Mutanda, a clinician at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine’s Behavioral Wellness Center, said the interpretation and achievement of the transformation varies across individuals.

“What motivates those things looks different from person to person,” Mutanda said. “Glow-up … essentially is about who’s receiving the message and then how they internalize and interpret what that means for them.”

Krina Efstratis, a third-year psychology student, said glowing up means putting time and effort into learning about personal interests and concerns, which is especially important during the transformative and impactful years of youth.

“Being in college, especially a place like UCLA that’s accepting and open to so many different kinds of styles and different appearances – … sometimes you figure out more about yourself,” she said.

Efstratis said she also participated in the trend during high school, specifically through trying various hairstyles. While she had a positive experience experimenting with her hair, Efstratis said the trend can be exhausting. For instance, the idea of glowing up made her feel pressured to constantly wear makeup, she added.

Valerie Ding, a third-year statistics and data science student, said she felt the trend surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many students were quarantined in their homes with social media as their only outlet for socializing.

“The pandemic giving people more time … by themselves really puts a megaphone to how much you think about yourself, how much you think about how you look, how much you think about how you’re perceived,” Ding said.

In fact, a study published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior cites a 20% increase in social media usage worldwide during and after the pandemic.

With the growing prevalence of social media in recent years, younger people who spend the most time on social media are more likely to experience the benefits and consequences of the glow-up trend. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that around 40% more people between ages 18 and 29 use Instagram and Tiktok than the average percentage of usage across older age groups. Thus, this younger demographic is more likely to contribute to and consume the more than 15 million TikTok videos and 10 million Instagram posts currently under the hashtag #glowup.

Aaron Ramirez, a YouTuber from Southern California who posts fashion and fitness videos online, said the trend’s prevalence among younger people can be damaging.

“With social media, it’s very easy to compare to somebody who only puts up the very best part of their lives,” Ramirez said. “Younger guys are very quick to compare themselves to those kinds of individuals, and they almost feel like they’re not doing enough or they don’t look as good as other people. And their confidence starts to take a toll.”

A major function of social media is sharing information, which may bring about the urge to conform when the content becomes homogeneous. In the case of the glow-up trend, social media can craft certain standards for a positive transformation, which can create a toxic environment, according to Vogue.

Additionally, Mutanda said the idea of glowing up is heavily tied to excessive consumerism and herd mentality, which may negatively impact both individuals and society as a whole.

“We can no longer just engage in something that is good for us without marketing it, branding it and selling it,” she said. “The glow-up trend promotes this pressure to conform to this idea of what it looks like to be ‘glowed up,’ and that takes away from authenticity and even the nuance of variation and who we are as people.”

Ding said the glow-up trend is self-commodifying, meaning that it can pressure people to transform into products that service the economy rather than themselves.

“The notion that there’s stages of your life that should be distinct – the better you and the old you, the you before and the you that’s glowed up – is a product of social media,” she said.

According to Vox, self-care practices have become a commercial product that companies use as a marketing strategy to sell products to increasingly young customers. For example, a recent phenomenon of the catchphrase “Sephora kids,” used to describe tweens and teens obsessed with makeup and skin care products, exemplifies the growing consumer base of younger people who more companies are targeting. Growing consumerism can fuel a harmful cycle of purchasing materialistic belongings under the facade of self-improvement, according to Vox.

In addition to economic and social factors, biological and psychological factors are also responsible for creating and augmenting the glow-up trend.

Dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with feelings of happiness and accomplishment, can increase in an individual when they receive social acceptance through posting on social media, Mutanda said.

“You get those likes. That’s reinforcement,” Mutanda said. “It reinforces the maintenance of said behavior to receive that form of validation externally.”

While social media may facilitate a toxic desire for social belonging and validation, it can also have positive influences on trends and people who engage in them. A study published in the journal Developmental Science found that the impressionable nature of younger people can also allow for constructive outcomes.

Ramirez said despite the drawbacks of the glow-up trend, it can encourage people to be the best versions of themselves and seek personal growth.

“The best way to go about it is to be realistic,” he said. “There’s some things you can’t change. But the things that you can change? That’s what you should focus on.”