Media And Body Image

Everyone has a view on their own self-image, it can be self-induced or influenced by outside pressures. It is not fixed and will change throughout one’s lifetime. Body image is an opinion of oneself that is often influenced by the world surrounding a person. Media can help in shaping the way one views themselves and their life. The media portray a picture of people and their life which seems ideal but is often unreachable for most people. People become dissatisfied with their current life when they compare it to the luxurious life seen on TV. The dissatisfaction leads to people forming negative impacts on their outlook on life. media makes a profit by taking advantage of people by selling products to help enhance an ordinary life. Media are …show more content…
Products have been created to enhance certain physical features, “guaranteeing” to increase a person’s body image. Industries prey on the insecurities of the public to make a profit. In the past there were products for general things, for example, a moisturizer would have been adequate to use wherever one had dry skin. However, in today’s world there are different products for everything, for instance, today there are many moisturizers for many parts of your body. Perhaps research has allowed scientists to find moisturizers which work better on different parts of the body. They specially designated moisturizers may be efficient but often an ordinary moisturizer would give similar results for a lower price. Companies have been able to exploit these gaps in marketing and have been able to make a profit from these insecurities. People naïvely fall into the medias trap; people will buy a product, it may work and their body confident will be boosted, but soon the media will uncover another insecurity. Media work by showing people that they need to change to be satisfied. It sells products to help them become content; however, media constantly change the definition of content. The discontentment will continue as there is always another thing that can be …show more content…
Social media have been invented as a way of connecting and engaging with others around the world through the internet. Today, most people are engaged with different types of social media, such as Facebook, twitter, or Instagram. These websites allow people to share certain parts of their life, while hiding others. People are able to idealize themselves and make themselves and their life appear more attractive. Instead of just the media photo shopping people and lives to seem alluring, now ordinary people are able to change the way they appear by using apps and choosing the content they post. Social media also allow people to compare themselves to their peers and people all over the world. It is easy to overanalyze yourself and become dissatisfied with your own features and life when being compared to and judged by other ordinary people. The pressure of creating a post increases a person’s anxiety because, in social media, one’s worth comes from the comments and likes received from people online. When one posts something they are volunteering to put a piece of themselves online to be critically examined. Social media, such as Facebook, make profits through the advertisements that are shown on the site. Social media have direct insight on the current trends and have been able to focus the advertisements that offer products that publics