Our Eyes Deceive Us

How much time do we actually spend on social media? According to the New Zealand Herald more than 2.8 million New Zealanders spend an average of eight hours or more on social media. That’s eight hours or more on Facebook, Tumblr, Snapchat and others. ‘Just five more minutes’ can actually go on for hours. We don’t know how much time we spend on technology and how addicting they are.

People of all ages go on the internet and when they do they’ll find thousands of photos of skinny “beautiful” females and attractive guys with muscles and abs. The media doesn't show average, maybe overweight people. They show skinny, beautiful females and good looking guys people on TV programs and advertisements. Magazines publish day to day pictures and articles of anorexic looking what we believe  is beautiful females and guys with muscles. On social media sites like Tumblr, they show skinny girls with thigh gaps, smooth tan skin and a beautiful face, what does this really say about our society? All this exposure to “beauty” makes most of us feel fat and unattractive, this sometimes makes us do silly things like self harm and can lead to eating disorders like anorexia. According to a website called ANAD, 86 percent of the people they interviewed report onset of eating disorders by the age of 20. Therefore all this exposure to the media can lead to an unhealthy lifestyle.

How can we stop this?! Is media killing our self esteem? Maybe it’s time for the media to have a spring clean. Role Reboot website says that 298 of the people they interviewed who use social networks, fifty percent of them said social media made their self esteem worse. People are feeling upset with themselves because they are not this image of “perfection” and feel as though they’re not good enough for society. All you have to remember is that the people in those pictures aren't real, they are photoshopped to look perfect. You’re perfect the way you are.

As you can see, the media is seriously affecting our society. All this unnecessary photoshopping is forcing us to do things to ourselves that are unbearable. We need to treat ourselves better because we are all beautiful inside and out, no matter how big or small, tall or short, wide or thin you are. Photoshopped people aren't real, we are. The people around you are. Not some silly picture trying to make a profit.

Michelle Hamilton