Pressure on youth that made them strong

From the hit television show, The Kardashians, to the app, Instagram - which has over 70 million active users, social media today is taking a toll on society. With the help of new technology, social media has become both extremely influential and inevitable - making it extremely dangerous to today’s teens. To fit a norm that was created through the media and on social media, today’s youths have to question their identities. Not only that, but teens are exposed to pornographic images and ads that are on both social media and in the media.

Nowadays, the media is easily accessible through the usage of, but not limited to, the Internet, the press, apps on cell phones, movies, books, and the radio. With the influence of social media, the major effects on the youth are the normalization of disabilities and illness, teaching outdated gender roles that lead to harassment, and society's pressure to uphold unrealistic beauty standards.

On the other hand, there are platforms of media that helps out the youth to develop great morals.

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According to Ken Gillam, the director of a composition program in Missouri State University, and Shannon R. Wooden, an English professor at Missouri State University, Pixar - a computer animation film studio - advocates the youth of a new model for masculinity. Gillam and Wooden’s article, “Post-Princess Models of Gender: The New Man in Disney/Pixar”, examines the psychological mindset of characters in Disney and Pixar movies. Gillam and Wooden found that movies like Cars, Toy Story, and The Incredibles have a set formula of what makes the lead male character of each movie.

They found out that characters like Buzz, Woody, Lightning McQueen, and Mr. Incredible “ strive for an alpha-male identity; they face emasculating failures; they find themselves with a feminized object (and/or a set of ‘feminine’ values); and, finally, they achieve a kinder, gentler understanding of what it means to be a man” (544). For example, in the movie Cars, the leading male character is Lightning McQueen who first shows his ambition and fierce competitive characteristics that leads him to lose the Piston Cup. In which, he shows his feminine traits - in which he is not easily able to make friends, revealing his isolation and his emotional stoicism. Even though there are a few movie industries that try to teach the youth, there are more platforms that affect them negatively through the usage of inappropriate images and behaviors.

With the help of social media, the normalization of disorders and illness will continue to place the youth on the path of demeanors. From drinking to extreme dieting, the media promotes these health concerns by standardizing them in their shows, movies, books, etc. According to an article named “Children, Adolescents, and the Media: Seven Key Issues”, topics like aggression, sex, drugs, obesity, self-image and eating disorders, depression and suicide are all major contributions that the media has on children. The unknown author writes that “the easiest way to get teenagers to adopt a certain behavior is to make it seem as if everyone is doing it. On TV, in movies, and in online videos, seemingly everyone is drinking alcohol. It is a normative behavior” (4). Having many of the lead characters with massive grins on their face with a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other. With the consumption of alcoholism in many shows, kids believe that drinking alcohol is normal and that there are no consequences that one has to worry about. Not only is the normalization of illness and disorders dangerous, but so is the outdated gender roles social media is trying to teach today’s youth.

The best way to influences the youth is through the usage of advertisement. According to Jean Kilbourne, an award-winning author and educator, there is a correlation between sexual acts of violence in our nation and the media. Psychologically, as a child grows up, they are more perceptible and learn from people, images, and ideas that are put in front of them. Kilbourne’s article, “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt”, shows the effect of social media’s attempt to teach kids outdated gender roles by depicting certain requirements to become the ideal man and woman. To become society’s ideal man, a boy should be “forceful and dominant, and to value sexual intimacy more than emotional intimacy” (557). Men, in the eyes of social media, are heartbreakers, should be in control of their woman, and should never take no as an answer. A man should always mistreat a woman and treat them as an object to conquer. While a woman has the requirement of being mistreated, ignored, be attractive, sexy, and be held responsible in cases of rape or other acts of harassment. Women are seen as the offenders while men are portraying the victim. These values that social media advocates go against any ethical morals children are being taught and sadly, with the advancement in technology the corruption has started.

According to Carol Gorga Williams, a journalist at Asbury Park Press, with the evolution of technology, changing one’s appearance is as easy as pressing a button producing a perfect selfie. It is no surprise that in today’s era, every child, if not most, have their own personal cell phones. Through the app store, children are able to download free apps that help them to change what makes them insecure. In Williams’s article, “Want the Perfect Selfie? There’s an App for That?”, it tells of how young children have to create personas, who post nothing less than perfect pictures on their social media. Some teens use “a variety of apps and filters that do everything from reducing the subject’s weight up to 15 pounds to improving smiles, removing blemishes and enhancing complexion” (3). While others use their well-earned money to hire professional photographers to capture their ideal image.

The Daily Utah Chronicle posted a similar article, named “Why Natural Beauty is a Social Construct”, to that of Carol Gorga Willaims on the topic of the extreme actions today’s youth goes to uphold the pressures of social media. To obtain the perfect body illustrated by magazines, television shows, movies, and social media applications, over thousands of people undergo plastic surgery to permanently obtain the perfect image. The Kardashians, a family who is exploiting their “natural good looks” for money, is brought up in this article. To obtain these natural good looks, “it is evident that they have transformed their bodies to maintain their profitability and relevance in popular culture” (1). Having gone through the procedures, the Kardashians were able to obtain social media’s ideal hourglass shape, resulting in a mass following. The Kardashian family name is thus made known across the nation of their wild television show and their perfect bodies.

To conclude, with the influence of social media, the future of today’s youth is in danger. How? Well, for starters social media has been normalizing bad habits like drinking and suicide. It has been trying to teach the youth outdated gender roles that can lead to violent sexual acts. Teaching young boys to sexualize and objectify girls. Lastly, pressuring kids to be nothing but perfect and to change their physiques so that society can accept them.