Persuasive Essay On Teen Self Esteem

Self-esteem is a global evaluative dimension of the self and determines if you are satisfied with certain aspects of your life. For example, your appearance, your personality, your abilities and your relationship with others. The media is a powerful source of tool to manipulate adolescents that portrays unrealistic images that affect the way they feel about themselves. I believe that the social media does affect the self-esteem of adolescent’s due to self-image.

We live in an era ruled by social media, primarily when it comes to teenagers, social media is used for everything. From communicating with family and friends to being used as a news outlet, and even advertisement for business and companies. This article is titled “Social Media: What's Not to Like,” written by Alison Pearce Stevens. The topic of this essay is the effect social media can have on teenagers. Social media, on one hand, can be used as a great way to share with the world and boost teens’ self-esteem. On the other hand, social media can be used as a place for bullying, body shaming and can cause depression or even suicide in teens.

Furthermore, media surrounds teenage girls in today’s culture. It is impossible to escape the sight of media. The media’s constant idealistic beauty is ever present to a vast amount of self-conscious girls. This image of beauty causes girls to have low self-esteem (Clay, Vignoles, and Dittmar). Media defining this perfect body image causes many adolescent girls to feel dissatisfied with their bodies and become depressed. “Viewing ultra-thin or average-size models led to decreases in both body satisfaction and self-esteem in adolescent girls aged eleven to sixteen, with changes in self-esteem fully mediated by changes in body satisfaction” (Clay, Vignoles, and Dittmar).

Social media creates an ideal body image in an adolescent’s mind that affects them in various ways. Having an ideal body image can lower self-esteem in some adolescents’ creating eating disorders, and this idea of getting plastic surgery as they get older. Social media is steadily increasing and has heavily influenced adolescent’s to be more aware of their body figure. As a result, many adolescent’s have developed low self-esteem due to the fact that social media continues promoting fit women and creating the idea that women need to be thin to be loved or accepted by society; this can cause harm to adolescent’s because they feel the need to fit in to society.

Social media and advertisements continues to shape the bodies of girls and women. They are targeted through all aspects of their lives when they are viewing advertisements, television, and body care products. So if unchecked or unchanged, it is likely that current and future females will continue to have a lack of self-confidence, self-esteem, and wont define their own image. Teens that range from four to nineteen, are influenced by the images of Barbie’s and the television show Toddlers and Tiaras. Eighty percent of these teen girls are dissatisfied with their image. Woman that are twenty or older also view different media that sway their images through the show Kardashians, Victoria Secret, and the beauty line Dove. Therefore, all forms of media need to change how they portray females. This way, women have a chance to be proud of who they truly are and can live to express themselves. Girls and women will seem guilty when they do not see the ‘model’ figure when they look in the mirror. This is not how society should be in the United States. The

As a direct result of the rapid advancement in technology over the past 50 years, the media has become ever-increasingly present in our everyday lives. The latest fashion editorials and the most exclusive celebrity selfies are always just a click away. Something so pervasive, however, should be intently studied and handled with extreme caution due to the vast influence it can have over its audience’s mind. Too much exposure to certain stimuli has previously been shown to affect cognition and behavior in adolescents. So why should media be any different? Social media apps such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are becoming increasingly popular in this day and age. However, being fed a constant visual stream of models and celebrities with perfect faces and bodies cannot be very good for one’s self-esteem. For some time now, there has been an ongoing debate on whether media has an effect on self-esteem and if so, whether its effect is positive or negative. Consequently, in this report I will discuss and analyze several studies which address the topic of media and its impact on self-esteem.

What are the negative effects of social media on young teens and the future generations? Elise White, the author of “Does the Media Negatively Affect Teenagers?”, explains the negative effects of media on teenagers, and she includes Sex, Violence, Money, and Body Image, as the major factors. She also says, “If a Teenager is responsible for a violent act, society is convinced that media/Video games is the main cause.” (Elise White 1). Out of all these negative factors, society believes that Body Image is the one that effects the most. An average fashion model is thinner than ninety eight percent of women. Advertisements only work to publicize their brand/products, such as; toothpastes, makeup, clothes, and so on. Young teens are exposed to such unrealistic image and are encouraged to place more importance on their appearance than a healthy life. This advertising pays for all forms of media, including movies, magazines, websites and phone applications. These advertisements lead to low self esteem and insecurity among teenagers. It can also lead to emotional and mental issues like depression if they do not achieve so called “Perfect bodies”. In today’s society, owning something that everyone has or is trending like, makeup, branded clothes, and fancy gadgets is considered to be “Cool” and socially acceptable. Violence and Sex are the other important negative factors, as teenagers are influenced by the movies and video games they watch and play. Music videos these days portray a very violent and sexual image and meaning, which impacts the way many teenagers

Instagram has been introduced to the community around 6 years ago as a social networking app for sharing photos and videos from smartphones. Along with the growth of technology and the Internet, Instagram is now gradually become more and more popular in many social media websites, especially for teenagers. However, many types of research and studies state that Instagram may cause several negative effects on the individuals who use them usually. As the report “Instagram Is Killing Teen Girls’ Self-Esteem”, the author states that almost every girl teenager feels isolated and unsatisfied with what they have. Indeed, they often feel envious and have inferiorities when they see someone have a beautiful dress or living a luxury life (Kohli). Moreover, Instagram users often compare their lives to other people on social media and try to build the perfect platform on social media. If teenagers overuse Instagram for most of their time, it may lower the self-esteem of teenagers, damage the body image, lifestyles, or even affect the mental systems in life satisfaction.

Approximately 14 million U.S. teenage girls don’t like how they look. The number of women who feel confident in their bodies is dwindling quickly and is being fueled by edited pictures they are comparing themselves to on social media. The Time magazine article “How Social Media Is a Toxic Mirror” by Rachel Simmons tells of the risk for everyone to feel self-conscious about their bodies. However, those most at risk are teenage girls who spend a significant amount of time on any form of social media. In response to the article, I agree with the negative effects social media has on the body image of teenage girls because I have seen girls trying to change their bodies. I also see the effects logos and pathos have on the strength of the article and what would make it a stronger and more credible source for information on teen body image.

Adolescents are bombarded with many media messages every day. These media messages may take the form of advertisements, newspapers, magazines, broadcast media such as television, and more. Such media can have a detrimental affect on how adolescents perceive their body image. Adolescents may feel pressured to diet, to spend copious amounts of money on the latest trends, and they may even feel inadequate compared to the models they see on television. Adolescence is a time of change that is difficult for many already. The messages conveyed to these adolescents often do more harm than good.

Social media is a visible platform that displays the “ideal image” of beauty. These “ideal images” of beauty have been obtained by means of manipulation, photo shopping, plastic surgery, or extreme measures of dieting. The negative impact of social media is at the root of a number of issues that surround teens and women. One of the biggest issues teens and women are dealing with is the constant pressure of comparing themselves to these “ideal images” on social media. Although women are subjected to the negative side effects of social media my research is mainly geared towards teen age girls.

(Weiner 2) Claire Mysko an award winning author and expert on body image, leadership and media literacy explains: “While social media is not the cause of low self-esteem, it has all the right elements to contribute to it. Social media creates an environment where disordered thoughts and behaviors really thrive”. (Weiner 2) For most young women with constant use and easy accessibility social media can become an addiction and the ability to become outlet that can either build up / destroy women’s self-esteem. A recent survey of more than 1000 girls in the United States ages 8-17 sponsored by the dove self- esteem fund, showed that 7 in 10 girls surveyed believed that when it came to issues including beauty and body image they did not “measure up.” Only 10 percent found themselves to be “pretty enough.”(Sweeney 3) Among women over 18 looking at themselves in the mirror, research indicates the at least 80% are unhappy with that they see. (Fox 5) We are society literally obsessed with being beautiful. Unfortunately female dissatisfaction with appearance or a poor body image being at an early. The latest survey show that young girls are going on diets because they think they are fat and unattractive. (Fox 5) In one American survey 81 % of ten year old girls had already dieted at least once. (Fox 5) By 13 at least 50% of girls are

As a result of the pressures to obtain the image portrayed in the media, we start to develop low self esteem and body related issues. For instance, the models and movie stars on television all influence our mindset believe or not. We see their clear skin, thin physics and idealize them. Some become obsessed with the idea of “perfection” and start to alter their own appearance to reach it. Eating disorders have dramatically increased over the years due to the media’s effect on people’s minds. Examples of negative teen body image are everywhere. There are several forms of media; such as television, print, broadcast, radio, talk, and the internet. Social network sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and even YouTube are all outlets teenagers go to

Advertising on social media is a necessary evil. It is required to keep sites free to use. Social media is especially attractive to advertisers. Advertisers can target a more specific group of people based on information collected by the sites. Facebook began using advertisements back in 2006 to generate income. Meanwhile Twitter began using “promoted tweets” in 2010 as an income source. Promoted tweets are ordinary tweets purchased by advertisers who want to reach a wider audience. Both sites have pushed advertising to mobile devices as well, further increasing its reach. More teens are becoming body-conscious in their early teens. Experts blame social media and celebrity culture for putting these unrealistic images in the minds of teens. “One in 10 teenage girls is ‘extremely worried’ about becoming fat and one in four has tried dieting, the first large-scale study of its kind has found.” Two thirds of 13-year-old girls are afraid of putting on weight and as a result, more than half of them avoid certain foods, according to the study by the National Institute for Health Research.” It is also notable that those who practice unhealthy weight control methods were 40% more likely than other children to be overweight and 90% more likely to be obese, by the age of 15 (Dixon). Teens are becoming very self-conscious of their body image and these expectations are shown in advertising on their social media page. They see it everywhere they go.

In today’s society, the public is exposed to technology at even younger ages than ever before. Everywhere you go these days you see kids even as little as three holding their parent’s phones or even their own, watching videos or playing games. But as said in the article Does Social media impact on body image by Philippa Roxby, as kids start becoming teenagers their technological uses advance and they start to rely on social media sites for new sources of communication, and their main channel to the outside world. Based on studies conducted by psychologists they have come up with a conclusion that social media has a direct relationship to body image concerns. I believe that in today’s society we should focus on promoting self-confidence as most of the adolescents have a very low assurance of their own bodies. Although a study conducted in the article The Upside of Selfies: Social media isn’t all bad for kids by Kelly Wallace says that a survey which resulted in 52% of the teens saying that social media positively influences them. Even though social media platforms have some beneficial aspects such as they make people want to go on diets, exercise, and eating healthy, the teenagers don’t really look/understand the negative aspects of it. The impacts that are carried with social media are mostly negative such as fancying teenagers to lose confidence in themselves and has become a toxic mirror to them. The visual platforms impact