The Effects of the Media on Teenage Girls

“Be the girl all the guys want”; “Get a hot body in less then a month!” “, “Get picture perfect hair” these are just a few of the slogans teenage girls are faced with on a daily basis. They are constantly being reminded to look pretty and act a certain way which causes pressure for many of them. The average north American girl will watch 5000 hours of television a year in which they will view 80 000 different adds reminding them to look a certain way. They are surrounded with unrealistic female beauty by their role models on television and strive to look like them. If they do not feel like they have attained that look they loose self confidence and are not pleased with their appearance. The pressure is also increased for girls in fashion and advertising by portraying very young girls in sexual ways. It pressures girls to act that way and do things they should not being doing at such a young age.

Studies show that teenagers who have a daily consumption of media usually have a negative view of themselves. Most popular television actresses are becoming thinner and thinner over the years. There are even articles in magazines encouraging girls to loose weight in order to have a happier life. By doing this the media makes the consumers insecure about their bodies which strives them to go out and buy beauty supplies, new clothes and diet pills. Many girls even start to smoke in order to become thinner. By exposing all these images of unrealistic beauty the media is creating more depression and unhealthy eating habits in teenage girls. The media is sending a message that the female body always needs to be improved. This leads to teenagers competing against each other for male attention.

Teenagers rely on the media to define and explain the world around them because of all the changes going on in their lives. They are constantly comparing themselves to situations and celebrities in the media. They are the most vulnerable to media messages and are always trying to model their lives around the media. They look to the media to find their place in society because they are still trying to figure out who they are. Each form of media influences teenage girls in different ways but it is all so they can feel a sense of belonging. Teenagers do not know what they want and the media takes advantage of this by bombarding them with hundreds of different advertisements a day. It is not morally right because they are constantly looking up to different people to follow their footsteps instead of following their own.