The Effects of Media on Self-Perception in Teenagers
Is the media teaming up with society to destroy the world’s prosperity? Over the past decade, social media and society have shown an increasing negative influence on the opinions and self-perceptions of young people worldwide. Even until today, society has been molding and shaping what people today perceive as “right” and “wrong.” Many negative influences are helping to negatively shape the world’s youth, particularly targeting personal appearance and image and opening the door to other world issues such as eating disorders, psychological and emotional disorders, and teenage suicide. Some of the more common negative influences in today’s world include fashion, commerce, technology, culture, and celebrities.
Fashion, Commerce, and Technology Fashion has always been an important determinant of what shapes and defines culture and society, and it’s certainly no surprise that fashion has evolved from simply being clothing to body figure when considering how fast fads change. In today’s society, fashion has evolved to shape what has now been worldly accepted as the ‘ideal body image’ – skinny, young, fit, curvaceous (or for men – athletic and muscular). Modeling agencies and iconic fashion names such as Vogue are infamous for their usage of young and skinny models on the runway. In recent years, fashion companies have been signing pledges to denounce the promotion of underage models and models that appear to have eating disorders and promote the message of healthy body image. Despite all attempts to stay true to their pledges, many companies have shamelessly broken them by exploiting the use of adolescent models on the runway. Going so far as to implement an enforced minimum BMI (body mass index; height-to-weight ratio) on their models, these companies are far from pleading innocence. In fact, a startling third of pageant-winning models have met the World Health Organization’s BMI criteria for anorexia, one of the countless types of eating disorders partially caused
Fashion, Commerce, and Technology Fashion has always been an important determinant of what shapes and defines culture and society, and it’s certainly no surprise that fashion has evolved from simply being clothing to body figure when considering how fast fads change. In today’s society, fashion has evolved to shape what has now been worldly accepted as the ‘ideal body image’ – skinny, young, fit, curvaceous (or for men – athletic and muscular). Modeling agencies and iconic fashion names such as Vogue are infamous for their usage of young and skinny models on the runway. In recent years, fashion companies have been signing pledges to denounce the promotion of underage models and models that appear to have eating disorders and promote the message of healthy body image. Despite all attempts to stay true to their pledges, many companies have shamelessly broken them by exploiting the use of adolescent models on the runway. Going so far as to implement an enforced minimum BMI (body mass index; height-to-weight ratio) on their models, these companies are far from pleading innocence. In fact, a startling third of pageant-winning models have met the World Health Organization’s BMI criteria for anorexia, one of the countless types of eating disorders partially caused
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