Kids and adults have surprising answers to what they would change about their bodies

Many people feel insecure about their appearance and wish they could change it. In a world filled with filtered and altered images on social media and in magazines, it's easy to develop low self-esteem. To explore this, Jubilee gathered 50 people for a YouTube video and asked, "What is one thing you would like to change about your body?"

The 50 participants in the video represent various ages, ethnicities, and genders. First, a young girl mentions she'd like to change her big forehead because she was teased about it. An adult woman wishes she were taller. A young man wants to reduce his puffy face, and a mother holding her toddler wishes her postpartum stretch marks would disappear. Others shared desires to change their skin to remove ailments or to have smaller ears.

A woman speaking in Chinese wanted big eyes like those she saw praised when she was young. The woman who wished to be taller added that she often felt inadequate as a child. In the next segment, young kids and tweens answered the same question, and their responses were more imaginative. They wished for things like a mermaid tail, a mouth as big as a shark, the ability to teleport, and the speed of a cheetah.

"I don't think there's anything to change, I like my body, actually," another girl adds, saying she wouldn't change anything except adding a mermaid tail.

An older woman shares her thoughts on her appearance and if she is comfortable in her own skin. "A lot of people obsess about getting older and about the wrinkles. I love my white hair. I loved it when it started turning white. I chose to stay this way because it just wouldn't be me if I changed the way I looked," the elderly woman shared. As an individual grows up, they are more concerned about their appearance and how society perceives them. It, in turn, leads them to wish they could make changes in their body and that something is possibly wrong with how they look.

According to the Mental Health Foundation, the pressure to have an ideal image is linked to body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and depressive symptoms in many people aged 19 to 35. A survey showed that 37% of young people felt upset and 31% felt ashamed of their body image. Additionally, a National Institutes of Health study found that 83.2% of participants wanted to change their appearance.