There’s this constant notion that the media is telling us what to believe, how to believe it, when to believe it, and just how much we should believe.
[Enter Fake News]
And while I do think that the media definitely mediates the way in which we, the population, interact with current events, I think we forget the uncontrollably strong impact that (social) media has on our day-to-day behaviors and social expectations.
The media has had a continued effect on both our own personal body images and the way that we view – and the unreasonable expectations that we have for – other people. I’ve always been an advocate for self-confidence and being exactly who you are because that’s something that I struggle with, constantly. And the more that I’ve researched this issue, the more enveloped I've become.
This particular statistic strikes me like nothing else:
“65% of American women and girls have eating disorders, with an additional 10% reporting symptoms consistent with eating disorders”
That means that 75% of American women and girls engage in unhealthy thoughts, feelings or behaviors related to food consumption and their bodies.
Seventy-five percent.
I'm sorry, but I can't just brush past that.
That means that: 3 out of our 4 of your girlfriends, 7,056 of the total 18,445 students at USC, and 120,750,000 women in the United States have behaviors resembling eating disorders.
That, to me, is an epidemic. And yet, no one’s talking about it.
Everyday we’re told that we aren’t “enough." We aren’t pretty enough, thin enough, rich enough, normal enough and – ultimately – perfect enough. But who decided what makes us perfect? Because I’m pretty sure that we’re all completely human, which also means that we’re completely flawed. We’re perfectly unique and purposefully imperfect, and that should be “enough.”
We’re telling our kids that they’re allowed to be whomever it is that they want to be, but by exposing them to unrealistic ideals – magazines, TV shows, movies – we’re only giving them goals that they won’t ever be able to healthfully and realistically attain.
The ways in which we communicate and the current power of the media is an incredible phenomenon. We’re able to not only communicate more efficiently, but we’re also able to communicate with more people – tons more people. But with that power also needs to come responsibility.
The media and modern day mass communication are remarkable resources, ones that need to be seen as privileges, not entitlements.
So let’s use the media in positive and effective ways – with intention and purpose. Let’s allow our children to decide who they want to be and what it is that makes them beautiful. Let’s give them the chance to redefine a broken society – one that we older generations have only given into and perpetrated.
We have never had the chance to live in a world that has encouraged our uniqueness and celebrated our every quirk and quality.
We may not have had that chance, but I can assure you that that’s something that I’m striving for – for my future children, and yours.
