Teens today are more body conscious than ever before. Girls are fixated on their weight and size of their breasts, while boys are focused on their muscles and height. Plastic surgery has become more prevalent than ever, and parents, along with their children, seem to find it acceptable to have a procedure done at a younger age. Thousands of girls are going in to see surgeons to have their breasts augmented, noses reshaped, ears pinned back, as well as have laser hair removal and microdermabrasions done. Heidi Montag, a star from The Hills, was shown throughout the show having surgery after surgery. She finally came out looking like a completely different person. Stars on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills were shown having procedure after procedure done. They detect one little flaw and off to the surgeon they go. There is a need for perfection these days, and teenagers aren’t even living their lives and aging before they see a need to fix an imperfection. Along with surgery, teenage girls worry about their weight because of all the skinny celebrities they see in the media. Eating disorders are the most deadly among mental disorders and even though it is a mental health problem, the media is a major contributor to the disease. Alison Miller, a writer for Collegiate Times at Virginia Tech, believes that promoting healthy weight loss at a young age is a great way to prevent teens from following the negative footsteps of today’s role models. She also feels that it is the duty of the celebrities to educate teenagers on “ridiculous dieting, drugs, and alcohol.” Teenagers struggling with the hardships of adolescence will be more prone to listen to someone they idolize.
Teenagers seemed to be faced with many difficult decisions and harsh perceptions. They are expected to do well in school and be a good person, but they also want to be popular and confident. They feel they are supposed to look “perfect,” and spend the majority of their time stalking celebrities to find out what they need to buy and wear. Teenager’s lifestyle of simplicity seem to be a thing of the past. While they used to be busy worrying about playing sports and going to school, they are now busy worrying about that, plus their weight, wardrobe, and social status. Teens are growing up faster and are becoming immune to the negative and irrational ways of life the media project. It is not their faults they have succumbed to the glorification of unhealthy habits like smoking, drug abuse, unprotected sex, and alcohol. It seems as though these celebrities and their ways of life are here to stay, but there are new sites launched for teenagers that give them tools to think critically about media messages they’re exposed to. Without the help of parents, peers, and most of all society and the media, teens will continue to be overcome by the negative monster that is celebrities.
