The Negative Effects Of The Media

The media has become a powerful source for changes in our society. There are so many factors and reasons for our society changing. Today I find most people obsessively worried about their body image. We all have a body and at one time or another, we worry about it. Women and men are both being affected by media sources such as television, advertising, magazines, music, and video games; not to mention the photo manipulation that goes along with it all. Questions can be asked; such as, “Is this the way our society should be leaning [obsessing over our bodies]? What could happen from here? Are there any solutions?”

Throughout the years the use of technology has increased, and expanded. Mass media plays a vital role in society. Mass media can be defined as any means of communication, to an extremely large group of people. Technological advancements have been extremely beneficial for prior generations, the generation we now live in, and will be for the future generations to come. Such as, providing news for the world to hear, entertainment, and much more. Some examples of media would be television, films, newspapers, and the Internet. Unfortunately along with benefits, there are disadvantages concerning gender discrimination, and sexism. Such as, women feelings forced and obligated to stay at home with their children instead of working, and the representation of beauty involving both men and women. Examples of how the media can accomplish this would be through the use of advertisements, movies, magazines, and the radio. The media has an enormous effect on people within society today.

In the article, “The Negative Effects of the Media on Body Image” by Esther Vargas, there were several issues discussed about the negative effects that media has on body image in society. Many girls

Women around the world face overwhelming oppressions in their daily lives. That is not news to anyone and these oppressions have occurred for so much of history, that it is often times overlooked by the mass majority; even the younger generations of women do not know the types of oppressions that they will soon have to face. To combat this, FCKH8.com, a well known organization that sells t-shirts and other merchandise with witty anti-racism, anti-homophobic, and pro-feminist catchphrases on them, created the video, “Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism”. As the title implies, the video contains little girls, ages six through eleven, aggressively yelling “FUCK,” towards the camera while rattling off facts and statistics about some of the oppressions women face because of their gender. The comment section of this video is erratic; the viewers often have conflicting views about the meaning of the video as well as whether or not it was successful in its purpose. One thing is for sure, the video makes an impact by using several rhetorical devices including word choice, pathos and logos; all which separate it from other pro-feminism videos that exist.

Kover, A. (2009, April 30). Effects of the Media on Body Image. Retrieved March 21, 2017, from

It is known today that media and body image are closely related. Particularly, how the body image advertising portrays effects our own body image. It has been documented in adolescents as they are more at risk for developing unhealthy attitudes toward their bodies. They are at a time where they 're focused on developing their individual identities, making them susceptible to social pressure and media images. A major reason many people have a negative body image is because of the impact that media has had on our perception of body image.

History has changed. Ideas and standards have also changed. Back in the day, when the media or movies showed a hint or a dash of blood, the reaction of the average person was shock and disgust at the blood and gore shown. These scenes and clips shown have become more and more extreme over the years to the level of being hazardous to society. Even in the videogame industry, certain scenes that may have caused outrage and commotion fifteen years ago are now seen as childish and may even be considered as humorous. To put it candidly, most of the mass media has been used widely to its ability to influence and persuade, to glorify, and diabolize thoughts and actions of individuals. Yet people of this generation still spend a great percentage of

The results make things perfectly clear: the media needs to stop promoting unrealistic body images. A newsletter writer named McGiffert, conducted an interview and found that many people say “they may not see themselves as they really are." They often feel self-conscious, awkward or shameful. A negative body image can cause depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, shame, trouble concentrating, taking risks with sexual health, anti-social behaviors, and mental health problems such as anorexia, bulimia.” (Lockwood). Furthermore, the ideal image can affect the way people think, their emotions and the way they perceive themselves in their daily lives. The impact of images that the media uses just blur the boundaries between an ideal image and reality. Therefore, the ‘ideal’ images that are represented in the media are not only unreal, but also very misleading to our

Body image has become a primary focus for individuals and in some instances is resulting into an obsession, especially in women. Media instills in men and women an ideal body standard causing unrealistic expectations, some resulting to the extremes to obtain the perfect body that is being perceived in order to conform. More and more people are aspiring to become media’s “ideal body image” to be considered attractive. The American media is becoming detrimental to individuals as it is negatively influencing the perception people have of themselves and their bodies.

Media negatively affects body image. medias are technology based platforms for opinions and facts, and have a wide spectrum of views. Body image must do with how one sees themselves and it can be either positive or negative. Across the board, the biggest platforms media has used to distort the image of the body are social media, TV, and magazines. Body images have been an ongoing controversial issue throughout history, especially with women, but with men as well. As technology grows and furthers the “filters” and photoshopping capabilities, the easier it gets to create and unrealistic image for one to live up to. It has gotten worse as technology updates, since it now is affecting children at a younger age, at the same time, it has also

People may say that while media is the root of the problem, the media itself cannot be stopped. But, if we take the spotlight and place it on media, we are allowing the effects to be unlimited. While media does play a part in causing negative body image disorders, Media is the easy blame for body image problems. By putting the blame on media, America fails to understand the body disorders and the complexity behind them because you can't stop the media but you can stop or try to understand the reasons that lead to feeling body

Media is a powerful communicative tool, which can be said, is very easy to influence in many different ways. Although some aspects of media are important to bring to our attention, some other aspects, however, create an incredible amount of negative impact one of these which is body image. In order to identify this issue a qualitative research by using five different magazine articles, which included the Heat, Now, Star & Reveal; major and minor themes relating to the media and body image were identified. Thematic analysis was used to analyses the data.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the negative impact body image in media. Media

Like many people my age, media is a huge part of my daily life and is prevalent in all my memories. Media such as photography brings to life memories I otherwise would have forgotten, while the internet allows me to connect with others from across the world and gives me access to resources like Khan Academy to aid me in school. Media also has more negative impacts, such as interfering with family time. Whether its effect is positive or negative, media has influenced my life since the start and this reflection helped me realize that.

The media and technology impacts socialisation by becoming a determining factor that sets trends on how communication and knowledge sharing is processed. I have conducted a research using a questionnaire to analyse how media and technology affects socialisation between generation x (born 1965-1976) and generation z (1996-2009).