Teen girls all over the world struggle with confidence. It is not uncommon. Suicide rates are going up, anorexia and bulimia are becoming more and more common, and depression continues to spread from teen to teen.

Websites such as Tumblr, a blogging network where thousands of teens post pictures or text to express their feelings or life, have become a place where teenage girls can post photograph after photograph of ‘thigh gaps’, skinny bodies they wish they had, and images of other girls who they claim ‘they could never be as pretty as’. These pictures usually follow text claiming they’re ugly, fat, and/or suicidal.

This is a problem.

And it’s everywhere. Pictures of skinny girls, blogs about extreme diets, and girls claiming they are never going to be pretty enough are all over the internet. Girls are crying over not being as skinny as a girl in a Twitter post. Girls are cutting over who got more likes on their Facebook status. Girls are even committing suicide because they’ll never look like a Victoria’s Secret model.

This needs to stop.

The world’s culture has become one of which people are judged based on looks. Not only are girls not being judged based on their personality, but they are also not even perceived as the person they are. They are being distinguished by their weight, facial structure, or even by how ‘good’ their hair is. The culture of the world can be changed and effort needs to be put forth in order to do this. Girls need to stop ridiculing themselves. If everyone puts in a little bit of effort, there can be less acting out, less anorexia and bulimia, and less suicide deaths. As helpless as these teen girls sound, there is, in fact, something that can be done.

Girls during their teenage years need to spend a lot more time away from social media networks and a lot more time around people who care about them and can lift them up from their depressed thoughts. Less social media means less suicidal thoughts and less deaths of teenage girls overall. Yes, the culture of the world has evolved into a technology based society, but there are ways to escape it. It might be hard to tear girls away from their phones or computer screens, it can be done. It is the only way that this problem can be stopped before it gets even worse.

But less social media time is not the only key to open the lock. Girls need to realize what is important on their own, but a little help might be necessary. Praising girls during their teenage years on working hard or making every adult in a girl’s life a positive role model can help. By providing girls opportunities to serve, they can not only get involved in the community, but really experience the real world. Serving the community in any way means that depressed teenage girls are less likely to have thoughts of how frizzy their hair is or big their waist is. There are worse things in life than being a size 12.

The problem can be solved and lives can be saved. Girls can stop thinking they need to be skinnier, comparing themselves to unrealistic people, and turning to things such as purging or starving in order to lose weight. They can stop cutting over being ‘ugly’ and not good enough and they can finally stop feeling so depressed. Because, in the end, isn’t it about saving people from taking their lives? Because something can be done to save the lives of these girls. They are worth way more than they let themselves know.