One of the challenges that most teens face today is just trying to fit in with the media that influences our world today. They are not only continually throwing stuff at us, but putting illogical ideas into are heads. Such as telling us that we need to look a certain way or act like what the media says is acceptable. The media today expects us to be something that nobody can ever be. Because lets be logical there is no way anyone could look like Barbie and Ken.

The media unfortunately has a huge impact on teen girls. We are constantly putting are self’s down for things we just honestly can’t control. Picture a girl on a commercial. She is as tall as a tree with legs that are a mile long. They’re as thin as a twig, have a flawless complexion and pearly white teeth. Her hair falls perfectly even when she twirls and she walks tall and radiates like the sun. Unforutanitly when some girls see this they get this crazy idea that they must look like Americas next top model. Reality check, she is most likely air brushed and photo edited to perfection or has on about a pound of makeup. Have we ever bothered to stop and think about that? No, we don’t because we are vulnerable targets that believe anything we see or hear. Girls think that they must be hot, sexy, popular, flirty, thin, or fit in order to be desirable. We believe that being all of that will make us desirable, but that really isn’t the case. Sadly we think it is because most of us believe that anything that is in the media is true. This is how most of us have grown up so a majority of teen girls don’t know any better.

Media not only affects teen girls but teen boys as well. Many years ago boys would have never thought to be rude or unkind to girls, but now that is considered acceptable. Being a boy today is all about trying to get all you can for nothing. It tells boys that women are just mere objects or toys and that once they are done with them, they can just throw them out and replace them. Teen boys now think that they must be macho all the time and that crying or showing weakness is a bad thing. They believe that it’s all about fast cars, fast women, making big money by doing nothing, and partying is what life is all about. This sort of behavior used to be frowned upon. Why all of a sudden is it considered right? Because the media portrays it as acceptable behavior.

Because of the influence media has on the world we believe anything that it tells us. The media used to say be yourself. But when you try to be yourself they laugh at you and tell you that you’re not good enough. It is effecting who teen girls and teen boys think and look at each other. Instead of thinking positive and clean thoughts about each other we thing negative and dirty thoughts.

In conclusion the media has a major effect on teens today. With all of the things that teens go through they shouldn’t have to worry so much about what people think of them. Yes we should try to make a good impression on people. But you don’t need sagging pants or booty hangers to do that. If there was a bigger focus on how the media affects teens there might be a small change in our behavior and attitude towards our self and others.