How many times do you hear a random girl or even your best friend say that she feels fat or feels the need to go on a diet? Or how long do you sit in front of the TV and see add’s about diet programs? Often right? Well, thanks to advertisements on television and magazine picture and articles, it is easy for young girls to lose focus of what the normal body type should look like. Going on diets and consistently working out are things that are becoming more normal to our everyday society. The pressure that media puts on girls to have a perfect figure is causing many issues in our society.
   

From the time media first appeared, till now, it has impacted our lives heavily. One way it has affected our generation is that  the media has completely revolutionized the way we communicate. It has also popularized social media websites like Twitter and Instagram.  People no longer have anonymity and these sites make it easy to haunt anyone.Finally, media has helped women all throughout the world make huge strides in putting a heavy emphasis on how women should look.

Media is currently causing girls to focus on fitting in, more than paying attention to real life issues. Normally people would think that family is very important to teen girls but that isn’t the case anymore. Throughout our society, gaining weight is a bigger fear to teen girls rather than losing a family member or gaining a terminal disease. Crazy right? Well it gets better. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, around 69% of girls between 5th-12th grade say that magazine pictures influenced how their body should look and be shaped. Thanks to media, teenage girls believe that they are going to become important  by how they look on the outside. Our society allows girls to think that in order to be accepted, loved and successful, you need to become muscular and become skinnier, which is extremely wrong.

When people think of who media impacts the most, people would think normally of teen girls, but it is now affecting younger girls. Research has shown that childhood media exposure can play a role in how you see yourself in young adulthood, with either positive or negative self images. Also, younger girls feel the need to enter themselves in beauty contests on social media. Some of the girls are as young as the age of 13 or younger. These contests can cause negative self images because of how the girls are rated based on outward appearance. Thanks to the help of professional stylist and professional photographers, young women are now using them get ready for the perfect picture to post on social media.According to a study done at Duke University, around 40% of girls between the ages 9 and 10 have already been on a diet. What parent would allow a 9 or 10 year old to go on a diet you might ask? The answer is because of how the parent may struggle with self image issues too and yes, it affects adults.

Since media is impacting us at such a young age, effects from the exposure we had as children are bound to show late on in life. According to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Body image, 60% of adults admitted to feeling ashamed by the way they look in public. A whopping 80% of adults admitted to a survey done by People Magazine that women on television and women in movies, make them feel insecure about the way they see themselves. Dr.Edward Farrior of The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery even said "With social media, you lose control of your own image." He also said that he has noticed that when young people come in for cosmetic changes, it is mostly structural issues like a nose job, but with adults, they want Botox or a facelift to look prettier.

Currently in our world, media is causing problems with drugs, alcohol and eating for young girls and you may never notice it. According to the article Self Image/ Media Influences, self-image problems can lead to various disorders and addictions including drug and alcohol use, eating disorders, self-harm, sexual addictions and bullying can all be causes from media exposure. The article also said that eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia can be the cause of the amount of media a teen is exposed to. According to the Family First Aid Organization, 90% of people with eating disorders are women between the ages of 12-25 years old. The National Eating Disorders Association even said "body dissatisfaction, or what experts call "disordered eating" is not attributed to any single cause, but research indicates that media plays a role".

Even though media is seen as a negative influence on our society today, it does help us realize real world issues and it actually can influence us in positive ways. Because of positive media exposure, social skills, development of friendships and the expansion of someone's social circle can all happen.Also, the nice thing about media is that it can keep your family living abroad in touch with your more easily or it can keep long distance friends in the loop. Finally, media can help our society realize what is going on in the world around us. Media helps us to understand what's happening in our world instead of in our town or neighborhood and it can also bring about awareness to diseases that could harm our society.

Overall, media impacts our lives heavily. It can impact us for the better for worse. Yes media can help us in many ways but at the same time, it's poisonous to our decade. So the next time you look in the mirror and have a negative thought or your friend says something about self-image, ask yourself or your friend why or where that idea came from because I bet you, media played a roll.