The youth represents majority of the population.  Teenagers and young adults are part of this group.  They represent the significant percentage of people who are self conscious of their image; hence they’re the target audience of producers and advertisers.  The influence can be good or bad, depending on how the individuals respond to the shows, movies, commercials, and other media products.

In terms of body image, the media bombards the young girls’ minds with images of skinny models.  This makes them feel that if they’re a few pounds heavier than these images on the magazine then they’re unacceptable to the society.  As time passes, it has been observed that the girls who are becoming weight conscious gets younger and younger—for instance, about 80% of nine-year-olds are on diets and that the number of eating disorder cases has been rising.

With regard to sex, three out of four teenagers say that the television shows and movies make it seem normal for children of their age to engage in sexual relations.  The young teens regard the entertainment media as the number one source of information about sexuality and sexual health.

In terms of violence, one study shows that children are learning aggressive attitudes and behaviors because of watching shows and movies that depict such behavior.  They develop a fear of being victimized by violence.  What most of the programs they see and hear send the false notion that in every conflict there has to be a winner and a loser, thus making them believe that violence is a successful means of resolving conflicts.

Media violence can lead to an aggressive behavior in children and this is supported by a research that states that when a child hits the age of 18, he must have seen about 200,000 acts of violence on television alone.  Young children become desensitized to the real world violence.  They can’t easily tell the difference between real life and fantasy that the violent images they see on television and in the movies may seem real to them.

Parents can reduce the negative influence of media on young people by limiting and monitoring the programs the children watch.  They should also teach the children the value of inner beauty, the value of self worth, and alternatives to violence.

Although eating disorders for a child isn’t all because of the negative influence of the media.  Some children are just more likely to develop anorexia and some might be at risk of developing other types of eating disorders without the negative effect of media.

Sending False Messages

Today’s media is obsessed with physical appearances or a person’s external beauty.  The media landscape in the generation of Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth promoted a different type of beauty, one that isn’t skinny or scrawny.  The standard of beauty has since evolved over the years in which beautiful means wearing a size zero and no more than that.  Otherwise, you’re labeled as fat.

An example of such phenomenon is when after bearing two children Britney Spears shows up in a skimpy outfit and was mocked by the media because of how much she’s gone fat.  Despite giving birth to two children, she Is not even close to ‘fat’ but the media was overly critical by being offended by how the pop star had the guts to wear such an outfit with a figure like that.

Perfect isn’t Perfect

Today’s youth oriented television shows and magazines use personalities that are rarely overweight or even have normal weight which further sends out the wrong message that perfect beauty is thin.  From the time a child gets into their pre-teen years until their middle-teen years they’re constantly exposed to what so-called perfect beauty is and the requirement to look just absolutely perfect.

Imagine if Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth were alive today, they’d be considered fat, which is quite a shock.  This shows how much the standard of perfection and beauty has really evolved.  Isn’t it surprising to realize that these iconic symbols of beauty, health and sex are now deemed flawed? The idea seems unreal.

Getting it Right
Media influences society, in particular children, with continuous messages of what today’s society consider as ideal and a very negative of idea of what is perfect.  In order to limit a child or a teenager’s exposure to these negative influences is by limiting their exposure to shows that promote harmful ways of altering one’s body image and the same goes for magazines.

It is important to teach children of what a healthy body image is by encouraging them to stay fit in body and mind instead of concentrating on looks and beauty.  Also, it’s important to keep track of your child’s self esteem issues and their body image.

We all go through several struggles throughout our lives, and these hassles and worries can keep us from being in a fit and completely committed relationship. One of the first steps is realising your issues and find what is actually keeping you from being in a committed relationship. Once you know what the issue is, you can easily try to either work on the issues yourself, or you can look into going to see a professional that knows how to manage these types of issues.

If you sense that you require some modification in your life, try changing the little things such as clothing or your hair. Once you give yourself a mini makeover so to speak, you’re going to feel a lot better about yourself.

If you’re already in a serious relationship and you’re having issue due to your lack of self appreciation, then try and work with your partner towards your self improvement. It’s going to feel a lot better if you’ve someone by your side as you make your changes.

Change could be a scary thing for all of us, which is why self improvement and relationships can be such a hard aspect in our lives. Remember that change isn’t always a bad thing, and it can potentially help you in the long run, if you just give it a chance.