Influences in Life

664 Words2 Pages

You can be influenced by anything, the television, your friends and your family. If you are influenced by these factors negatively, the influences may push you to lead dangerous, life threatening decisions. How far can the media, family, and friends push you?
“Media has had an increasingly negative impact” (Mokeyane 2); media affects the lives of us all negatively at some point. People are being driven to eating disorders and others by copying the behaviors of the lifestyles being projected. Teenagers are surrounded by all types of media; radios, television, magazines, and the internet. All this media will produce images in our teenagers’ brains that they need to be perfect to be accepted in society from ads with skinny supermodels. “How did this unrealistic idea of the perfection of the ‘ideal body’ get framed… open a newspaper or magazine, switch on the television or radio.” (Gupta 1). The models and dieting ads from media drive some teens to eating disorders or the thought that perfection is real. The apparent reason for our teenagers to this conclusion is media poisoning.
“Sizes of supermodels and actresses often influence teenage girls” (Mokeyane 2). It’s known that the media contributes to most of teenagers’ views and how they think of themselves. Marya Hornbacher was influenced by the media at the age of five years old and developed a eating disorder that the age of nine. “Imagining that I am the sophisticated bathing suit lady… tan, and long and thin.”(Hornbacher 11) , she was also affected my her dysfunctional family to develop an eating disorder because they also “tend to run in families” (Sifferlin 1).
The media will also influence you to choose dangerous or life-threatening choices such as drugs. “You want to fit ...

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...uld have been influenced by the pictures in the magazines or the shows on the television. Whether it was telling you what to wear or it was at a party and you’re getting peer pressured into doing something irresponsible. Those factors can push people far, some farther than others. The media can push you to thinking that you need to be perfect or can influence you to develop an eating disorder. The media can even influence you to leading dangerous or life-threatening behaviors by glorifying drugs and sex. The social media can push you to harming yourself whether it’s “cutting” yourself or killing yourself. You friends can push you to change to your personality or peer pressuring you into doing something you don’t want to do or become. Your family can influence you by setting a bad example for you. All of these various influences can affect you, but will you let them?

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