Effects Of Photoshop On Society

Brittany Como
Mr. Foley
AP English 11
8 June 2015
Photoshop 's Effect on Today 's Society with Body Image In today 's society, people have a very skewed perception of beauty. People are exposed to so many advertisements and pictures that are photo-shopped each day that many do not even realize what they are looking at. They are seeing an image of something that is not real; something that is not even possible to obtain. Photoshop has an outrageously negative effect on men and women in society, creating an unattainable image of perfection. Constantly, people are exposed to pictures of models on the covers of and inside of magazines who have perfect skin and what society believes to be a perfect body. The media has greatly changed what we think

The number of times per day that comments are made about how people wish they looked a different way, even just around my school, is outrageous. In places including schools, the workplace, the household, and many more, people are constantly wishing they had what others around them have. They never stop to recognize and appreciate who they are or realize that they are that way for a reason. I wish everyone could realize that perfection is a hoax brought to us by the media to promote products and, for the long term, low self-esteem. There is certainly beauty in every single human being, no matter what they look like. All shapes, forms, sizes, and colors are equally beautiful, and if someone fails to see that, then they are missing the true meaning of beauty - loving oneself and not judging others based on looks. Everyone is unique and the people in this society need to stop wishing that they looked like other people, especially the models in photo shopped images, because it simply cannot be

Skinny was not the most beautiful thing to people, and it was not as big of an issue as it is now. So where did the ideals change from curvy being beautiful to skin-and-bones skinny being beautiful? In the 1960 's, popular figures like Twiggy promoted being skinny as beautiful, around the same time the Barbie doll became popular with young girls (Bahadur). Sure, many people are actually born skinny. But some are born big-boned and cannot help that they are that way - and they should not have to worry about it. However, we as a society have changed these ideals because we are constantly exposed to the media 's rendition of what being beautiful should mean and accepting it. The fact that being bigger used to mean that someone was wealthy just goes to show that our culture has completely thrown this principle away. But, however appalling the issue may be, there are solutions to this terrible problem that is still on the rise and hope that it will get better. Instead of letting these vulnerable people look at magazine covers and wish they were in different skin, our duty as a society is to promote the embracement of beauty and self-confidence in everyone. Motivational speakers, many of which have had their own share of self-esteem issues in the past, need to be brought to the surface and get their messages out in the open even more than they already are. Jessica