The Impact Of Media On Society Today

In a recent survey done by the National institute on Media and the Family, fifth graders, ten year old boys and girls told researchers they were dissatisfied with their own bodies after watching a music video by Britney Spears or a clip from the TV show “Friends.”(4) If this isn’t shocking enough, the research group reported that at the age of thirteen, fifty-three percent of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies.” This grows to seventy-eight percent by the time the girls reach seventeen. Also, eating disorders are beginning to start at an alarming young age. Statistics show that girls are developing eating disorders at the age of six.(1) Young girls that are exposed to appearance focused television programs, and magazine shows feel that they need to look like the models that they see. Most of these girls are not even have fully developed bodies yet and are already trying to perfect themselves. One girl had even shared how one of her best friends discovered that her fifth grade cousin was bulimic. Girls at that age should not even be concerned with their bodies yet and eating disorders being developed is a harsh wake up call as to how young girls everywhere are being effected by the media each and everyday.

cultural beliefs. In the western societies, the media places a lot of emphasis on being skinny, as this is

Fashion magazines and the media are filled with beautiful women that appear to be extremely thin. Every time someone turns on the television or looks at magazines they see some kind of advertisement for fitness programs or some method of dieting. There is a strong emphasis on dieting and maintaining some ideal weight. Looking at these ads full of “skinny” women gives other women a sense of insecurity about themselves, making them think that thin is the way to be. Society in general tends to think that all women are supposed to appear to look like these surreal images that we see on television and in magazines. You hardly ever see plus size models on TV or in magazines advertising a product. It seems to me that if you are not a Cindy Crawford, Tyra Banks, or Naomi Campbell then you don’t have a chance of succeeding in this fat phobic world.

It’s difficult to envision a world where idealized female imagery is not plastered everywhere, but our present circumstance is a relatively new occurrence. Before the mass media existed, our ideas of beauty were restricted to our own communities. Until the introduction of photography in 1839, people were not exposed to real-life images of faces and bodies. Most people did not even own mirrors. Today, however, we are more obsessed with our appearance than ever before. But the concern about appearance is quite normal and understandable given society’s standards. According to Jane Kilborne, “Every period of history has had its own standards of what is and is not beautiful, and every contemporary society has its own distinctive concept of the

The media is the means of communication, as radio and television, newspapers, and magazines that reach or influence people widely. The growth of the media has spread vastly over the years. The media is also known as a “channel of mass communication.” “Mass Media incorporates all those mediums through which information is distributed to the masses. These include advertisements, magazines, newspapers, radio, television, and the Internet” (Sebastian). The media introduces many new things to the public, both positive and negative. The media harms the American culture by creating these celebrity idols, the glorification of violence, sex, and drug and alcohol abuse. The media positively affects the American culture by the quick and easy flow of

The idea of an idea woman has been thin for a very long time. According to the society, being thin means being happy, successful and appealing. Most of the models/actors that media portrays as ‘beautiful’ are thin women and not at all like the women we see every day. They represent images of women that most of the society cannot attain. These models are shown as almost close to perfection, with all the styling, make-up and airbrushing techniques to hide any flaws. Woman who are constantly exposed to such messages of beauty, might end up feeling dissatisfied of themselves. According to Berg 2000, girls as young as two are exposed to media that portrays thin women as successful. They see their aunts, mothers and sisters battling to achieve the perfect body, which is thin. This over time has an impression on the minds on the children.

Despite all of the growth and progress the United States has made in our portrayals of women, such as race, haircut, makeup, and clothing, there has been a neglect in portraying different body types in media. The covers of magazines, actresses, and superheros have all stuck to the idealized image of beauty in the 21st century. This image of beauty isn’t a healthy or achievable for all women. These images are those that young girls look up to and therefore strive to be as adults. Those actresses and characters are then portrayed through the lens of the Male Gaze, further polluting the image women are supposed to strive to be.

After many years of decrying the media’s unrealistic depiction of female beauty, over the last decade, women across the globe have raised their collective voices and insisted that the media portray more realistic and anatomically diverse idealized images of women (Bushak, 2015). As a result, Madison Avenue and Hollywood have begun to include models and actresses of varying shapes, sizes, and colors more frequently in ad campaigns, commercials, television shows, and movies (Bennett-Smith, 2015). Subsequently, the media’s depiction of female beauty has slowly started to become more inclusive and realistic (Lindsey, 2015). Nonetheless, more progress must be made in order to align the media’s presentation of ideal female beauty with reality.

The media’s representation of how all women should look has caused a detrimental amount of damage on the self-esteem of all the women who don’t fit that description. On one of the

Images in the media today project an unrealistic and even dangerous standard of feminine beauty that can have a powerful influence on the way women and young girls view themselves. From the perspective of the mass media, thinness is idealized and expected for women to be considered "attractive." Images in advertisements, television, and music usually portray the "ideal woman" as tall, white, and thin. In the documentary, "Girl Model," young Siberian girls look forward to leaving the lives of poverty and are promised the glamorous life of a model.

Women are shown as stick figures in the media. For example, Barbie or Bratz dolls are extremely skinny. These dolls target young children, teaching women from a young age to look a certain way. Most of the models in the media are about 5 feet 9 inches 115 pounds. This is a very unhealthy weight for a woman of that height. As women and girls see these things they think it is normal because this is how a lot of women in the mass media look. The mass media influences women to think that being thin is beautiful. In turn, many females

The media industry is the state of our actuality. Society expects for the news to keep them informed on what is going on around the world. There are several different kinds of media; there is the newspaper, radio, and television. Each category has its own different stage that has modeled the media to be as influential as it is in society today. Along with all other forms of media, newspapering has played a huge role in the way society view the media industry. Through time many changes have occurred, are occurring, and will continue to develop in the future. The media have an immense impact on society.

It starts earlier and earlier all the time, where else could this come from other then the media images. They put the thoughts into girl’s minds at such a young age that in order to be accepted we need to be painfully beautiful. Many children are told the saying “It hurts to be beautiful” and it makes them think that who they are is not enough and that they need buy products and go on diets to make themselves look beautiful like the woman advertised. There is nothing more persuasive then advertising. Women learn early to put time, money and energy into trying to look a certain way and end up getting sad when they don’t (Kilbourne, 1979 ). One of the most common powers of advertising is excessive thinness. It is starting to become the most talked about and blogged about topic. Statistics show that an individual’s self of steam drops extremely when a woman reaches adolescence (Kilbourne, 1979 ). This does not occur with boys like it does girls. Children learn unhealthy attitudes towards food and weight at a very young age. In a study of five-year-old girls, a significant proportion of girls associated a diet with food, weight-loss and thinness (B.A. Abramovitz, 2000). Once you hit puberty the media shows you that you need to achieve this physical perfection. It’s difficult to put an exact figure on the amount of people affected by eating disorders, as numbers vary between 150,000 to more than

Media has always played a huge role in our society. For a long time media was one of the methods of controlling people and leisure. Nowadays media is one of the main part of our lives and our society, because

As media becomes more and more common and advanced, we tend to spend ample amounts of time using and obsessing over the newest media. To me, media is defined as the source that the majority of the public uses to get information from. One type of media includes print media, such as newspapers, books, and magazines. Other forms can fall under the electronic category, such as television, social media, Internet, and cell phones. Our society relies on media to obtain political information, current events, and even help us pass time while playing video games.