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Influence social media has on young people
Social media and body image in youth
Influence social media has on young people
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The article The Waxed Generation by The Denver Post expresses how today’s society has transformed into a generation perverted on the impression of beauty; revealing the negative effect society and social media has on teens. Anywhere from magazines, phones, commercials, and movies; teens are constantly pressured to keep up with newest trends and the “Hollywood image.” The author of The Waxed Generation expresses the impact our society has on our image. “On TV, we watch shows glorifying plastic surgery, makeovers and beauty contests. On magazine covers, we find digitally enhanced bombshells and sculpted hunks.
Everyday females are exposed to how media views the female body, whether in a work place, television ads, and magazines. Women tend to judge themselves on how they look just to make sure there keeping up with what society see as an idyllic women, when women are exposed to this idea that they have to keep a perfect image just to keep up with media, it teaches women that they do not have the right look because they feel as if they don’t add up to societies expectations of what women should look like, it makes them thing there not acceptable to society. This can cause huge impacts on a women self-appearance and self-respect dramatically. Women who become obsessed about their body image can be at high risk of developing anorexia or already have
The implications of social media on teens, adults, and children have forever altered the standards of beauty as well as the general upbringing of young adults. Today, teens globally use apps like Instagram, Tiktok, and Snapchat daily, scrolling through pictures and posts of friends, family, mutuals, or celebrities. It has created empowerment but also unease for many females. How people present themselves on social media today has the same effect as how people would have presented themselves at Gatsby’s parties then. The value in society of having “things” is still prevalent as material things like named brand clothing and other items, along with the status associated with cars and even with private schools, are viewed by many from a social or wealth perspective.
According to a survey done by Jesse Fox, Ph.D., 80% of women feel bad about themselves just by looking in the mirror (Dreisbach). This has happened because of social media being changed to make girls feel like they need to have a certain body shape. Models and celebrities in magazines and media show unrealistic beauty and it contributes to eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and much more (Seventeen magazine). Media has put lots of stress on women throughout history with changing body shapes. A survey done by Dove found results that 9 out of 10 women want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance.
General Motors had a very hard time during the recession that began in the fall of 2007. They took various actions to help painting the company going such as job cuts and even filing bankruptcy to have a little peace during the harsh times faced by everyone. The car sales decreased from 16 million years before the recession to 11 million during the recession. This decrease of demand pushed General Motors to layoff 10,000 workers at first then 50,000 people on February 2009 with an overall cuts of 107,357 job cuts since recession still leaving the company at an “income after incomes taxes being around $-5,000 in 2009”(CSI Market, n.p.). The cost still wasn’t at a secure state yet so they were faced with filing bankruptcy protections months after
Managing and financing money smartly, while taking a proactive position to earn as much money for college will enable me to remain out of debt created from students taking on an excess of student loans. Student loans are a nightmare of the past that are now easily avoidable if the time and effort is put into avoiding them. Scholarships, work studies, full college and university rides are all opportunities constantly available to students. There should be no need to experience financial debt while in your student school years. Schooling should be every student's priority, not worrying about having to drop a class to get a job or on which loan company has the lowest interest rate.
“I’m so fat, why can’t I be skinny just like her!” “How does she get the perfect body, while I’m stuck with all of this fat!” These statements are common among teenage girls of today’s society. Social media of today shows unreal pictures of photoshopped models and the “perfect life”. This leads to discontent of young women with their body and lives.
Nowadays, many teenagers imitate famous people that they followed on Instagram. This could have an effect on another factor such as their self-esteem. Following strangers such as celebrities and models may cause the individuals to have a lower self-esteem and feel dissatisfied with their life by seeing the pictures celebrities post day-to-day about their lavish lifestyles, “perfect” bodies, and pretty faces (Wallis 2015). Next, other studies done to test the exposure of images of models to girls have found that participants who viewed pictures of the models reported a significantly lower body satisfaction and self-esteem report than those in the control group who were not exposed to any models (“Social Media and Self Esteem - Dos &Don’t for Teens and Parents”). In addition, another study in Germany call this phenomenon the “self-promotion-envy spiral,” and it happens when Instagram users compare themselves to the people they’re connected to on the platform (Dion, “The Effect of Instagram on Self-Esteem and Life Satisfaction”).
Social media plays a big role in how society portrays body image. “Alternatively, an increased number of Facebook friends may provide girls with greater opportunity to rapidly make multiple social comparisons, itself shown to be associated with body image concern”(Tiggemann and Slater 82). According to the survey that was taken by Marika Tiggemann and Amy Slater, the more Facebook friends the girls had, the more likely it was that they had body image concerns. They were able to compare themselves to the other girls that they were friends with, which led to them to have an increase in their drive for thinness. “Further, these comparisons are likely to be with somewhat idealised images, in that girls mostly post photographs in which they look good or are doing something ‘cool’ (and can be digitally altered)”(Tiggemann and Slater 82).
In today’s modern culture, almost all forms of popular media play a significant role in bombarding young people, particularly young females, with what happens to be society’s idea of the “ideal body”. This ideal is displayed all throughout different media platforms such as magazine adds, television and social media – the idea of feminine beauty being strictly a flawless thin model. The images the media displays send a distinct message that in order to be beautiful you must look a certain way. This ideal creates and puts pressure on the young female population viewing these images to attempt and be obsessed with obtaining this “ideal body”. In the process of doing so this unrealistic image causes body dissatisfaction, lack of self-confidence
Nearly 66% said they needed to lose weight, while half of them were not overweight at all. Teen magazines such as Seventeen and Teen Vogue talk about how to look ‘slim’ and ‘sexy.’ Heavy readers, that get addicted to them, usually engage in unhealthy weight control behaviors. Advertising is found to be the main source of unrealistic body types.
Teenagers have become much more focused on what he or she looks like. This is because, they are searching their identity, and trying to be someone that the media expects them to be. With social media, comes the stereotypical version of what a man or woman should be like. For example, women are expected to dress sexy, and have the perfect barbie doll body. Whereas men, are expected to be muscular and tall.
What social media is doing to teens Social media is a very dangerous place that makes teens feel insecure. Teens spend more than one-third of their day on social media looking at stereotypical images of “perfect” bodies and people. As a result, they become insecure about themselves because they are not like the people in the pictures. The media states that a perfect person is skinny, tan, has shiny hair, straight teeth, and completely clear skin. However, because teens are going through a lot of physical changes they do not usually look like social media 's definition of perfect and they become insecure.
Social media is a powerful source in today’s society, 81% of the population in the United States alone has set up a social media profile. Many use the media for useful things, like educational opportunities and business inquiries. Although there are people who may look at it more in a concerning aspect. Many people today view the social media as a stage where they are judged and told what the real way to look and act is, more specifically, body image. Social Media has a negative impact on body image, through creating a perfect view physically which affects someone mentally, targeting both male and female, and turning away from the real goal of social media.
Today everyone is obsessed with social media. People are easily influenced by almost everything they come across on the internet including appearance and body image. In todays generation it is so common to be unhappy with the way you look. All this is due to societies high standards on the way we “should” look. With social media you can do many things, including pretending to be someone you are not.
