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INFLUENCE OF MEDIA Before the late 19th century, there was only the printed word to convey information to the masses. Since then, the world has seen the invention of radio, television, and most recently the Internet. One of the most powerful means of communicating ideas is through the use of mass media. The mass media has become an extremely persuasive industry, especially with children and adolescents. Children and adolescents can be very influenced by what someone says to them, or what they see. The Committee on Public Education reported last year that young people spend more time in front of the television than they do in school or with their parents. Mass media has a negative influence over pre-adolescents and adolescents because it creates distorded self image, encourages violence, contains very explicit sexual content and also promotes the use of drugs. Mass media had always had a greater impact over the thoughts and belifs of women than those of men(“Body Image and Advertising, pg 1). It has always played a very important role in a women´s every day life. Women, especially adolescents and pre-adolescents because of how easily they can be influenced, have always had a lot of preoccupations with their outside image, and consequently, they are extremely concerned about the way they are seen by others. Since mass media exists, the images of women that are presented in it play a larger role in the formation of women’s body images reather than the opinion of friends or family. Women that are presented in media show extremely thin models, which can promote such eating disorders as bulimia and anorexia nervosa (refer to appendix images 1, 2 and 3). Mass media provides to its audiences an unrealistic and often unhealthy image of the beauty of the women. All of this women become concerned about their outside appearance trying to imitate the beauty of women that they see or read about in the mass media. A big subject will be the teenagers who try o become models or actress. Catherine Stevenson, who is a seventeen year old girl, who is starting to become part of the modeling job, says “I’ve seen lost of anorexian girls been ask to loose more weight because if not they will kick them out of the company.” She also comments that all of these girls will do anything to become their dream true. This obsession, of trying to be like women seen on TV or magazines, can lead to eating disorders. Eating disroders develop as outward signs of inside emotional problems. They can develop into a way that people deal with and solve their problems. Eating or not eaitng is used to help to handle painful feelings such as being unsatisfied with your body. The link between mass media and suffering any kind of eating disorder problem its becoming more powerful every day that passes.
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