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Social Media causes young ladies to have eating disorders. The main two disorders are bulimia and anorexia. Bulimia means people throw up their food and try hard to avoid weight gain. Anorexia means people are worried about their weight and what they eat. The reason for teen girls to have eating disorders because of celebrities and body shames. Mostly, celebrities pictures are photoshop ; and it makes them look amazing. Photoshop photos cut out fat and make their bodies look better. Mostly, when women look at women celebrities and see that people praise their bodies.They want the same attention as the celebrities. Also, body shaming affects the way young teenage girls look at themselves. Body shamers make teenage girls think negative about
Social media has become one of the most popular sources of communication for the upcoming generation. For young people growing up in today’s society, social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have provided pictures and news that have become the first thing that their eyes see in the morning and the last thing that they see before bed. These pictures have provided unrealistic standards as to what is considered beautiful in today’s society. As young people refer to these images as a form of comparison, it has created harmful circumstances. These influences on the lives of young people have forced them to take extreme measures and in some cases, has been the cause of death. Social media in today’s society has proven to have a negative impact on the way young people, specifically females, view their bodies. Unrealistic beauty standards, dangerous comparisons and disorders have all been a result to the increase in social media and the impact that it has on the lives of young people.
The complications that accompany body image have long been an issue in society. Body image is the sense of how an individual views his or her own body as compared to others in society, or what is considered to be the ideal body image. There are many different factors that effect ones body image, but a major influence is the media. The media has long been associated with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder where an individual participates in self-starvation, and bulimia is an eating disorder where an individual will eat as much as he or she wishes and then purges the previously eaten food. These are two destructive eating disorders that are associated with a negative body image. This comes to question, does media have an influence on creating a negative body image, which may inherently lead to eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia? Anorexia nervosa and bulimia affect various age groups but is extremely common in adolescence and emerging adulthood. During this stage in an individual’s lifespan there is a lot going on with ones psychological development as well as body. How an adolescent views his or her body image be highly impacted by how the media portrays what the ideal body image is. According to Berger (2015), “as might be expected from a developmental perspective, healthy eating begins with childhood habits and family routines” (p.415). If proper eating habits are not implemented negative body image and eating disorders that are associated with media becomes further predominant in adolescence and emerging adulthood.
Research shows “that regular readers of fashion and beauty magazines in early adolescence are more likely to suffer from a distorted body image during their teenage years” (“Children, Adolescents and the Media”), when they read beauty magazines they read articles and tips of how to look better and they try to them all to look and feel better about themselves. Research shows that “more than three-quarters of girls repot that television influenced their body image” (Mascarelli). Social media influences how we act and what we do Amanda Swartz once stated “Social media and mass media influence the way we react and interact with our world and potentially influence the perception of our own body image” (Mulliniks). In today’s worlds there are more ways to access websites to promote body image as a positive thing, “On the internet, there are now more than 100 pro anorexia websites that not only encourage disordered eating but offer specific advice on purging, severely restricting calories intake, and exercising excessively” (“Children, Adolescents and the Media”). It’s not a bad thing to eat healthy and work out to be fit and healthy but it’s another thing to eat less and work out excessively. Teens always compare themselves to others, either their peers, models and celebrities, “People are on Facebook or Instagram and they’re constantly comparing themselves to other people” (Mulliniks). Also reality television shows, show only the glamorous about what is happening, like “when teen moms become celebrities, the message to avoid teen pregnancy is lost” (Kroll). When teens watch shows like Teen Mom they don’t see the entire negative about becoming pregnant as a teen they see that the teen mom got famous and is on the show. Social media, media, magazines, and TV give teen’s unrealistical facts about body image, pregnancy and
Our society today is heavily influenced by the media and the imagery it shows. Though it may be indirect, the media provides unhealthy messages about ideal body sizes, gender attractiveness, and weight control that make women view themselves in a negative way. Magazines, television, and movies influence teenage girls on what they believe their body image should be. The images they show set the standard of what is considered physically attractive in our society. With the use of photoshop, media depicts falsified images of models and actresses to create a perfected look that is unattainable by the average woman. This creates a desire among teenage girls to look like these stars that are often shown. When teenage girls look at these images, they compare themselves to those images, and then judge themselves based on these comparisons. These judgements can potentially lead to eating disorders. In order to prevent the risk of eating disorders among teenage girls, the media should depict a typical image of people, rather than idolizing a specific standard of beauty.
The media can impact people’s lives in many ways, whether it’s fashion, movies, literature, or hobbies. One of the impacts is how women view their bodies. Movie stars and models feel pressured to catch attention and to look good in order to have a good career in their respective field. People tend to judge how someone looks based on their body composition. The result of this “judgment” is that Hollywood is getting skinny. Since models and actresses serve as role models for people, people tend to want to look like them. The result of this seemingly harmless model of behavior is in an increase in eating disorders.
As a teenager, I have witnessed the effects of media on body image almost everyday. Kids these days are so focused on social media and having the perfect body type that they can hardly even function sometimes. The media has had such a negative impact on so many young people, do we really want our generation of young people to grow up with this kind of pressure to look just right? Although there are many positive things about the media, the negative impacts it has outweigh the good.
Media has more of an effect than people realize on how people think about themselves, especially body shape. Social media, television, and magazines all encourage low self esteem regarding body image and eating disorders. The media is a major factor in young boys and girls developing eating disorders; when surrounded by media for hours a day filled with commercials encouraging weight loss and models that are unhealthily skinny, it is inevitable to feel insecure about your body shape and self image and in some cases, results in developing an eating disorder.
Paragraph 1- Girls can become victims of eating disorders because of society's promotion of an ideal thin female body. Models and stars shown in the fashion industry, magazines, movies, and other forms of media often appear very thin. These models are not a true reflection of the average female. Many are unnaturally thin, unhealthy or airbrushed. One former Victoria Secret model was shocked by the waiflike models that were shown on the runway during designer shows. A study referenced in the the article “Do Thin Models Warp Girls Body Image” describes how studies of girls as young as first grade think the culture is telling them to model themselves after celebrities who are svelte and beautiful. The same studies showed girls exposed to fashion magazines were most likely to suffer from poor body images. Psychologist and eating disorder experts agree the fashion industry has gone too far in showing dangerously thin images that women and young girls may try to emulate. The use of super slim models and stars, is sending the wrong message to young impressionable girls. These harsh influences lead us to think that thin is ideal body size. Seeing super thin models in the media plays a role in anorexia. Society’s promotion of a thin female body contributes to eating disorders for females striving to achieve this ideal bod...
“The attention-grabbing pictures of various high-flying supermodels and actors on different magazine covers and advertisements go a long way in influencing our choices” (Bagley). The media is highly affective to everyone, although they promote an improper image of living. Research proved says those with low self-esteem are most influenced by media. Media is not the only culprit behind eating disorders. However, that does not mean that they have no part in eating disorders. Media is omnipresent and challenging it can halt the constant pressure on people to be perfect (Bagley). Socio-cultural influences, like the false images of thin women have been researched to distort eating and cause un-satisfaction of an individual’s body. However, it is clear that, although virtually all women are exposed to these socio-cultural influences, only a very small proportion develop clinical eating disorders (Mazzeo and Bulik). Every article believes that socio-culture have an impact on eating disorders. Although, researchers believe that is not the only reason, and the easiest statement to make. Eating disorders are far more complicated than it just being blamed on the media. Bagley, Mazzeo and Bulik all state that media play a role in the development but are not the main reason to developing an eating disorder. In all of the research done thus far media is a part of eating disorders, but not the only culprit.
Eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, are very unique and complex mental disorders. They cannot be simplified into a single cause, such as the media’s influence (Goldring). However, many statistics show the media affects girls, especially young ones, significantly.
We are constantly exposed to that media and it can cause some very negative effects on young people. Adolescents are very vulnerable to the media and are greatly influenced by its messages. Many studies have shown the media’s link to eating disorders. Even though there is no one cause of an eating disorder it seems the media can be somewhat to blame.
Even more of these girls develop an eating disorder in order to look like the women in the magazines. Eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia affect all girls, some as young as 5 or 6 years old. Anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents; over 1 million boys suffer from this illness as well.... ... middle of paper ...
...he mass media. People who are feeling insecure about their bodies are getting younger and younger, and the results are getting worse and worse as media gains more power over the society. Additionally, due to the media’s growing influential power, ever time that a magazine gets published more women are susceptible to being affected by the woman on the cover. The more often that people are exposed to the damaging messages, the higher rate of negative body- image and self-satisfaction spread throughout society. This will continue to result in a higher rate of eating disorders and self-harming activities until enough people can come together and put a stop to the messages being conveyed. It is simply unfair for people to be given messages every day telling them that who they are is unacceptable and they should trade in their health in order to become beautiful.
This starts at young ages as seen in a study done by Duke University in 2016 showed that 40% of most 9 to 10-year-old girls had already been on a diet (Strickland). In recent years, body image has become so negative in teenagers that most with negative body image resort to unhealthy diets, smoking, fasting, or evenvomiting to try to improve their image in comparison to what the media perpetuates to be right. This has even become so bad that anorexia has become the third most common chronic illness inteenagers (Strickland). The fact that a chronic eating disorder has become the third most common illness in teenagers alone since the popularization of social media shows how much influence media has on younger people.The objectification of body image in media leads to the manifestation of poor body image and even eating habits in people, especially at a young age. Media plays a large role in day-to-day life, but also a large role in the development of body image. The prevalent and daily use of media affects body image; this can often be seen in teenagers and women, as the comparison between themselves and models or actors/actresses is a drastic one. This comparison can lead tounhealthy decisions, poor self-esteem, and even chronic illness, and it starts young. Many peopleclaim that media is not the cause of these things, that people are just feeling bad about themselves. However, while media is not the sole cause of these things, it is one of the biggest causes of negative body image and negative eating
First of all, teen girls are victimized by the media. Teen girls within society are obsessed with their physical appearance. They do what it takes to become the number one center of