Body Image in the 21st century
By definition body image is the way a person perceives him or herself judging strictly by the appearance factor.
We live in times when advertising and social media play massive roles in peoples day to day lives so is it still possible for people to think about their body image in a non-biased way? In a way they actually feel rather then they feel pressured to feel?
Its very concerning that children and teenagers are very exposed to the threats of how media show and promote certain body types. Young girl and boys, those undergoing puberty but even younger children aren’t fully aware of their physiques making them a very easy target.
The problem with digital advertising and social media is that you will never know if what your seeing online is an actual representation of the way someone actually looks like or did the image undergo some external procedures like photoshop or face-tune usage.
Thinking about that is actually quite horrifying because there is a massive amount of people (in all ages) who look up to computer generated images wishing they could look like that. Fantasising about certain body images, which are out of reach for any human being without the use of external factors like photo editing or plastic surgeries is very disturbing and even dangerous as it may lead to various disorders both physical and mental.
I think its very uncommon for a person living in our times to construct an objective body image as there are simply too many factors influencing the way people perceive themselves. The constant strive towards achieving “perfection” makes people push their own boundaries and is becoming a massive threat to our society.
