What Ever Happened To The Real Deal?

The influence of images in media have put horrible ideas into young peoples minds, specifically young girls, about what they should look like and how they need to achieve the look of perfection. This has been caused by medias use of image retouching. And where are these images placed? In magazines, t.v, movies, billboards, advertisements where they are very visible to young eyes of our society. As the years have past, technology has advanced causing the look of people in the media to be able to be more tweaked and twisted into the 'perfect' look, a look that has become more and more unrealistic. This technology advance has given the media access to more ways of showing these images to society, therefore having a stronger affect on society. Young girls see these so called 'perfect' looking women and feel the obligation to work their best on becoming the mirror image of these models and celebrities, which can lead to very low self esteem, eating disorders and sometimes even self destruction. Young boys look up to macho men in the media, and feel the pressure to become extremely involved in athletics and ways to make them selves look tough and manly, which can lead to them overworking themselves, segregation between different groups of boys, depression, and sometimes even drug use to attain the image they see. The answer is simple: the media needs to show the young girls and boys realistic, positive images that they can look up to, images that make them feel positive about them selves, images that are not retouched and show the real deal. Or society should take more responsibility in making sure that people are aware that these images have been retouched and are not realistic whatsoever. Hopefully one day the media could show images of men and women that would make young girls and boys think 'Wow, I want to feel that confident and empowered about my self, I want to have the mindset that person has!' instead of thinking 'That person looks perfect, I want to look like them. I wonder what I can do to look like THAT!'. Because these young girls and boys, are the future of our world. Which way do you want them to think? Which path do you want them to take? What kind of world do you want to live in? What images do you want to see? The real deal.

My Media Consumption

If I was to say I had any sort of 'independence' from the media, it would be a lie. I own an iPod which i listen to everyday, and a cell phone which I also use daily. I have a facebook, MSN, flikr, yahoo answers, youtube, and hotmail account. I have a subscription to Teen Vogue, Elle Canada, and People Magazine. I own every season of Greys Anatomy and Friends. The list could go on and on, I am positive that without this media in my life I would be entirely bored. In The Mass Media survey it is clear to see that the media has had a large impact on my life, mostly only the newer media, for example Internet and popular culture, not as much radio and newspapers. I personally use media in two main ways, one to stay connected and communicate with the people in my life, and two for entertainment and for expressing myself. I have rebuilt relationships with people from my childhood, i have stayed connected with friends from other towns and even other countries. To answer the ultimate question: yes the media does have a hold on me, a very strong hold.