The Impact of Media on Societal Culture Surrounding the Issue of Body Image The issue of the societal and media pressure and their effects on people is not a new concept to modern time. There has been a long history of body image’s powerful place in society and research has been done on the outcomes of this issue. More recently, society fights with the media to try and achieve a safer way to spread information and let the media be successful without having severe impacts on adolescents especially, among other age groups. The general ethical principle ruling this fight is similar to utilitarianism, but instead of one side being the greater good, their side is wholly good for both sides. I believe that society’s fight in this issue is valid
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Media will most likely not want to change if they are currently successful and using this harmful media. Some companies have realized this media can be extremely harmful and have taken action. For example, Aerie is a clothing company that decided to stop retouching or photo shopping their models to promote a healthier body image and body positivity. There are other ways to try and deal with this issue and lessen the harsh effects. One way would be to have less exposure to the media, but seeing as we live in the age of technology and social media, it may be hard to avoid this at work, home, or school. Another way that many people have already or are actively trying to implement, is teaching adolescents about the media and how it idealizes bodies before they are so widely exposed to it. Of course, kids are also exposed to more media than even a few years ago when my generation was kids. I believe that this is the best and most realistic recommendation to try and combat this issue. It should be done from a very young age, generally when kids start watching TV and reading, because that is when they will most likely start being exposed to media. It should also be an ongoing subject in their lives. If you teach a young child, for example, 6 years old, about the media, most likely their views and thoughts on their bodies and how they perceive the media will be drastically different when they are 10 years old. Therefore, it should not just be talked about once and done; it needs to be an open communication to help kids generally understand the media and how it tries to become controlling of its consumers. While I hope that people feel the same way I do, the media may keep idealizing bodies in a harmful way and parents may not care to help their kids before they are impacted by this, and this is morally harmful to
Media will most likely not want to change if they are currently successful and using this harmful media. Some companies have realized this media can be extremely harmful and have taken action. For example, Aerie is a clothing company that decided to stop retouching or photo shopping their models to promote a healthier body image and body positivity. There are other ways to try and deal with this issue and lessen the harsh effects. One way would be to have less exposure to the media, but seeing as we live in the age of technology and social media, it may be hard to avoid this at work, home, or school. Another way that many people have already or are actively trying to implement, is teaching adolescents about the media and how it idealizes bodies before they are so widely exposed to it. Of course, kids are also exposed to more media than even a few years ago when my generation was kids. I believe that this is the best and most realistic recommendation to try and combat this issue. It should be done from a very young age, generally when kids start watching TV and reading, because that is when they will most likely start being exposed to media. It should also be an ongoing subject in their lives. If you teach a young child, for example, 6 years old, about the media, most likely their views and thoughts on their bodies and how they perceive the media will be drastically different when they are 10 years old. Therefore, it should not just be talked about once and done; it needs to be an open communication to help kids generally understand the media and how it tries to become controlling of its consumers. While I hope that people feel the same way I do, the media may keep idealizing bodies in a harmful way and parents may not care to help their kids before they are impacted by this, and this is morally harmful to