How does the media influence us?
Do you sometimes look in the mirror and not like what you see? You aren’t alone. We all have days when we feel awkward or uncomfortable in our bodies.
We feel the pressure to measure up to the way an influencer portrays themselves, or how an actor looks on a TV show. Through the internet and social media, we’re repeatedly exposed to these unrealistic beauty standards in our everyday lives.
The models and celebrities we see in these images seem so happy, rich, and popular. It’s an unrealistic image of beauty and a lifestyle that most of us continue to compare ourselves to. When we’re confronted with these ideals of attractiveness that we can’t achieve, it can feel isolating. It can change the perception we have about how our own bodies look.
People of all genders are influenced by these images. This is causing increased anxiety and confusion about the “ideal” body image.
The powerful effect of media images on self-esteem and body image can lead to disordered eating.
But we can learn to understand that these images—whether they come from magazines or social media—don’t tell the whole story. This is called “media literacy.”
Seeing an ad makes you feel dissatisfied or obsessed with your body weight, size, and shape.
- Your role models for beauty are fashion models, celebrities, and social media influencers
- You read and believe articles or ads that tell you that achieving the perfect body is just a certain “product” or “diet” away.
What can I do?
- Be aware of how the bodies presented in ads or online are distorted or manipulated— filtered or photographed with special lighting and then retouched and enhanced with digital technology. Some images may even be entirely fabricated from AI.
- Question why these companies and their advertisers create false standards of beauty. Make the money you spend reflect the person you are, not the person you’re told you should be.
- Be a role model for yourself and others. Develop your own style and celebrate who you are. Break free from the restrictive ways media and advertising say we should look. Avoid media that makes you feel distressed about yourself or your body.
- Become a critical consumer of media. Protest the negative images and messages you see by writing emails to advertisers, television stations, and movie studios.
- Encourage media and advertising to showcase real bodies of all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds.
- Remember that the media and beauty industries want to take your money, not to help you to reach your full potential. Only you can decide the real person you are, not the person you’re manipulated to be.
As consumers, we can reject these artificial images of beauty.
- We can think critically about how the images we see make us feel dissatisfied with our bodies and doubt our own self-worth. And we can decide to avoid or pay less attention to media that makes us feel anxious about our bodies. These steps can prevent us from holding up our bodies to unhealthy comparisons or treating our bodies as objects, instead of as an essential part of ourselves.
- If we refuse to accept damaging, unattainable images of “the ideal body,” we will help to create new, more realistic standards of who we are and how we look. Changing these standards can contribute to making our lives healthier.
Media literacy means understanding the images that we are presented with have often been digitally altered or filtered to make the models look “perfect.” For a great example of this, check out the Dove Evolution of Beauty video, which shows a model from beginning makeup to finished ”product.”
Embody is proud to be affiliated with HeretoHelp –a project of the BC Partners for Mental Health and Substance Use Information. The BC partners are a coalition of seven non-profit agencies that work together to promote mental health literacy and decrease stigma related to mental health and substance use across the province. The BC Partners are funded by BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services, an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority.