The Impact of Self-Esteem, Significant Others and Media on One's Self- Image

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.

Most people have been exposed to social media at some point in their lives and although it may seem harmless it can play a major role on how people perceive themselves. Dieting and maintaining a well balanced lifestyle is healthy, but that can all change when the media gets involved. The media's impact on body image is mainly negative because people tend to abuse what information they are given and turn it into an unhealthy lifestyle. The media has a major impact on how people perceive themselves it can affect your mental stability, lower self-esteem, and contribute to unhealthy habits.

Consider your own body. How have images of ideal beauty in magazines and on TV influenced your ideas about what constitutes an attractive body?

The standard that the media set for the girls is almost impossible to be achieved (Serdar, n.d.). This is probably the most dangerous effect that the media brings toward the self-esteem of the girls. It is natural for people, especially girls to compare themselves with other people (Serdar, n.d.). This comparison can be distinguished into 2 types, upward comparison and downward comparison. An upward comparison occurs when the girls compare themselves to someone who seems to be better than them. A downward comparison occurs when the girls compare themselves to someone who seems to be worse than them. Exposure to media lead the girls to an upward comparison. Since it is almost impossible for the girls to achieve the same level of appearance that the media set due to the use of airbrushing method, the editing, lighting, and also the process of the models achieving those ideal bodies, their self-esteem will be low and ways of extreme diet will result in eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. Consequently, to achieve those standards of physical appearance, there is a socially constructed idea that in order to be beautiful, that is, in order to be like those thin models and celebrities, it is necessary to be unhealthy (Serdar, n.d.).

Advertisements promote new products each year, yet how many of them really work? We as women we are an easy target to persuade, and we cannot tell when an advertisement is speaking the truth. A woman is constantly bombarded with advertisements about beauty. They will believe what they see in magazine covers, but the truth is that all those pictures of your favorite models and celebrities have been retouched. They will start comparing themselves with size 0 models. Women believe that to look good and to be pretty, they have to be the size of the models. Advertisements persuade us to buy unnecessary products. Their publicity is with the sole purpose for them to have faith in that product and go buy it. It distorts woman 's perception of beauty, and impacts women not only negatively in their self-image, but their health too. They make women believe that they will only reach perfection if they buy their products. I believe that media may contribute significantly in self-esteem issues.

Teenagers are always competing against each other to be the most popular, and competition is the easiest way for them to determine who supposedly is the coolest person and the teens that belong in the “hip” group of people. Once again, teenagers like the elementary age children, look at their favorite musician, athlete, and so on, so they can be just like them and have all the aspects of the famous life. When teens notice that their idols have stopped wearing corporate logos, teens will move on to the newest trend also.

The years between 6 and 18, middle childhood to adolescence is a time of important development that leads to the establishment of self-concept, self-esteem, and identity for children. Self-concept can be defined as an idea of the self that is created from the beliefs one holds about oneself and the way that others respond to the created self. On the other hand, self esteem can be defined as the confidence that one has in one’s own worth of abilities and self-respect. During these years, children take steps toward adulthood by becoming capable, self-governing, self-aware, and involved in the world beyond their families. Social relationships and roles change dramatically as children enter school, join programs, and become involved with peers and adults outside their families. The changes that characterize and lead to the development of self-concept and esteem as well as the formation of their identity, by looking at the examples of questions answered by an 11 year old and an 18 year old and previous research conducted in this area.

My research assignment will be on sexulization of children. I will explore the issue of the increasingly early onset of sexualized bodies and the social expectations that go along with it. Most of my paper will be about girls, but boys will also be discussed. I will discuss and explore how media comes into effect and examine how media images influence children 's self-image. My title will likely be: Ticking Time Bomb: The Early Onset of Sexualized Bodies. In our society we are conditioning children to be obsessed with their appearance. We teach girls that their beauty is the most important factor of them. How media, advertising, film, pop music, magazines does are all included under this topic, relate to issues of overly sexual people?

Media plays a huge role in people’s perceptions of image, gender roles, and overall self worth. The media is constantly reinforcing limiting stereotypes through television, advertisements, films, and more. These stereotypes are especially geared towards women, suggesting that they have to look and act in an overtly feminine manner in order to be accepted by society. Though there are stereotypical qualities of men illustrated in media as well, they are mostly suggesting that men are dominant and hold more power than women. Therefore, women are more negatively affected by the media than men through stereotypes and gender roles implying they aren’t capable of doing what men can. Women in the media are underrepresented, hypersexualized, and shown in very traditional roles that undermine their abilities.

In 2001, actress Kate Winslet caused controversy over a statement she made about her weight. She told Britian’s Radio Times that she needed to lose weight “or I won’t work.” She was referring to the nearly fifty pounds she gained during her pregnancy, but fans were still upset over the famously curvy actress’s confession. Then, in 2003, Winslet shocked fans and critics alike when she expressed her distaste for GQ Magazine’s digitally slimmed pictures of her (Tauber, 2001). The most recent criticism of Winslet was in 2008. She appeared in Vanity Fair Magazine looking slightly thinner than normal, and many people were judging Winslet for being hypocritical. Winslet’s rep said that she was not airbrushed to look thinner, that that is

The peer pressure that teenagers face in today society is very hardcore subject for them to deal with. The teenagers in high school see their classmate’s styles and the high price fashions. The cars they drive to school and the expense jewels. They see their best

The media plays a significant role in influencing and shaping individuals’ perceptions of self in American society. Additionally, the media plays a key role in how it portrays people of color (POC) and, therefore, in how it affects their perceptions of self and others. It is the way the predominantly white media interacts with POC that reinforces racial stereotypes and systematic oppression that affect their daily lives. In the past two decades, research on media has supported the “media’s ideological power over their consumers to define social reality, not simply reflect it” (Drew, 2011, p. 355). The media, is therefore, not reflecting society’s opinions and attitudes, but rather forming society’s opinions and attitudes of POC. “They not only set the agenda for public discussion (what people should think about), but more importantly, they strongly suggest how” people should think about POC (Drew, 2011, p. 355).

Over the last three weeks, the Purple Group has been making great strides in building rapport and group members have been opening up about their personal conflicts, anxieties and insecurities. I have felt touched that others have disclosed such heartfelt and gut wrenching personal histories and at times, I have been almost moved to tears. While we have had many positive experiences and discussed many positive aspects in our lives within the last three groups, I can 't help but think about the negative and emotional experiences. It is because of this that I want to spend an hour discussing issues relating to self-esteem and self-image. I would like to consciously bring some well needed positivity to the group.

Self is described as a person 's essential being that distinguishes them from others, especially considered as the object of introspection or reflexive action. From a psychological viewpoint, the concept of the self impacts self-esteem and self-image. But happens to that definition when we look at it from a religious aspect? In Buddhism and Hinduism, although there are many similarities, there are also key differences in the fundamentals of their teachings and texts, such as the Bhagavad-Gita and the Vimalakirti, regarding the concept of the self in the cosmological, social, and theological aspects of each religion.

Adolescence is a time of planning for adulthood amid which time a few key formative encounters happen. Other than physical and sexual development, these encounters incorporate development toward social and financial freedom, and improvement of personality, the obtaining of abilities expected to do grown-up connections and parts, and the limit for dynamic thinking. While youth is a period of huge development and potential, it is additionally a period of significant danger amid which social connections apply effective impacts.