Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Media Affects Our Self Esteem

In today's society, everyone is concerned with their idea of self image. In young teenage women especially, the thought of having to take the perfect selfie to get a lot of likes on Instagram is more of a priority than things that actually matter, such as school or real life relationships. The main reason it has become such a high factor in our culture is because of the media.

In an article on the Huffington Post, self esteem expert Jess Weiner sheds light on how the media portrays confidence in women in a negative way. Throughout all types of media, confidence isn't shown or isn't acceptable until a person looks the way they want to, or have accomplished a goal of some sort. However, this is not the way it should be perceived. To properly sum confidence up, Weiner says "Confidence is not a destination in life, but a journey of how you get there".

If you turn on the TV, you can't get through a full commercial break without seeing an advertisement for a weight loss product, make up, or hair product. This is because these things are starting to consume our world. In many reality shows or sitcoms, they also put such an emphasis on the women or men having to have "the look" to find a partner or to be considered "cool".Instead of being praised or accepted, people who don't have the right body, or a certain amount of money, or socialize with the right people are actually shamed in all types of media. People search for confidence through the acceptance of others rather than the acceptance of themselves. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are also huge sources to this self esteem issue. As young people scroll through these social media feeds, they begin to compare themselves to their friends and acquaintances.

The article explains how confidence after reaching a goal should not be the only time one feels good about themself. However, it is about self discovery and acceptance for who you are. And until this is set in our generations minds, the low self esteem hole will just keep growing deeper and deeper.




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