After reading this article I realized the true impact that media can have both positive and negative and how impactful media is to the masses. Positively, it spreads messages, and raises awareness. Media truly does get the word out there. However, there is little differentiation between the words spread being positive or negative in terms of self-worth. The study tried to find the relationship to internet exposure and adolescent girls body image. The study showed that there is a relationship between striving to achieve ideal thinness and body surveillance to social media- specifically Facebook. This study speaks about the link between social influences and medias perspective/power. This includes fashion magazines and television. The internet is a way to spread ads, messages, and ideas. Websites like Facebook allow people to create personal pages- Facebook has been researches and is said to be increasing exponentially with the number of risks for cyber bullying.
To further examine the study it shows that there was no correlation between body image concerns and sites like YouTube or Google. However, MySpace was also related like Facebook to negative body image. I find it interesting that sites that allow people to create personal profiles are the same sites that personally attack people's self-worth. If 95.9% of girls have internet in their homes- 43% in their rooms it is no wonder that their minds and lives are being taken over by the Internets media. The article said girls are speaking 'about 2 hours each day' on the internet plus 34 minutes more with MySpace and 90 minutes more with Facebook- there is no question that they are impacted by its effects. (This number has probably increased since the article).
I have personally struggled with body image and because of the strong impact and constant effect of media and the urge to reach perfection it is no wonder that so many girls struggle. It is important to educate specifically young girls on the power of their self-worth and be sure not to criticize them for unrealistic expectations. However, it is more important to educate the internet and media sites about the impact that they are having on people's lives. These sites show appearances and pressures that impact young girls minds and body's. Media's negative impact on girls spreads further than simply appearance, but this is an evident place to begin media transformation.
I feel that this article was interesting in that it was informative and really highlighted the inherent issues with having social media and internet access so easily accessible, particularly to adolescent girls. The ubiquitous accessibility of the internet is really great in the sense that we could contact and communicate with others faster and in more ways in which we could have imagined beforehand. Yet, the internet also serves as a key place for advertising companies and mainstream societal values to perpetuate messages like body image for girls. Now girls are bombarded with messages like these almost immediately and constantly, whereas before they might have faced pressures at school, but not nearly to this extent where sites like Facebook always keep you connected to mainstream values.
ReplyDeleteI agree, it seems like young girls today are getting a second or third dose of societal pressure in terms of body image. Not only is this pressure coming from schools and peers, but now it is coming from television and the internet too. This study would be even more interesting if it was performed examining the relationship between body image and other social media sites such as Instagram. Since Instagram is based purely on pictures, and has the "explore" option, it is very easy for young girls to come across body image messages from many different profiles simultaneously. It certainly does not help that many profiles, including the Kardashians', all portray the same type of image for the "ideal body type." This can have an outstandingly negative impact on adolescent girls' perception of self image.
ReplyDelete