The mass media have a great impact on peoples lives, regardless of their age, gender, or race by influencing the way they talk, behave, dress, and think. However, their most special and serious influence is experienced by teenagers. With the help of various forms of media, people have an opportunity to communicate with each other all over the world. Indisputably, this great and powerful influence forms the ways, in which the participants perceive themselves, their appearance, the world itself and, their place within this world. Therefore, one should analyze the effects of different types of media on such a particular age group as teenagers and consider the ways of their influence on them.
Different types of media innovations can be used for mass communication. These means of communication seriously influence the formation of public opinion. At the same time, they influence the development of modern culture by choosing and describing a particular set of beliefs, traditions, and values as a reality. Nowadays, the Internet is more influential and powerful than any other type of media. Moreover, this type of electronic has pushed the traditional print media and television to the background (Amedie 4; Khurana 285). Thus, the mass media, especially electronic ones, have become a convenient method to communicate, receive important and essential information or news. However, very often, they can distract peoples attention and, as a result, they spend countless hours online and waste their time surfing the Internet. While the media influence people of all ages greatly, teenagers more than others are subjected to this influence. Due to lack of interesting and inexpensive places for leisure activities and socializing, they resort to social networks since they are cheaper and more available than any other ways of communication.
When it comes to the influence of media on teenagers, the Internet is an indisputable winner. Facebook, Instagram, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube are the most popular social media that attract the majority of youth and thus, personalize their own merits and demerits. The total number of Facebook users has reached 1,9 billion, and 1,2 of them form an active daily audience. As for Instagram, a popular photo?sharing application, the number of its users has exceeded 500 million, while 300 million visit this social network every day. Teenagers try to dress, talk, and behave like famous YouTube or Instagram personalities. Very often, they neglect their education, their learning achievements deteriorate, they ignore sport activities and self-development. As an alternative, they choose to spend hours online. In pursuit of popularity, many teenagers change their lifestyle and forget who they truly are. The Internet imposes fashion, style, behavior, attitudes, and opinions on its users Consequently, most of them look and behave similarly or emulate the so-called popular bloggers or Instagram users.
For many years, people, especially girls, have searched for the embodiment of beauty and perfection to such an extent that they spend the greater part of their financial resources and time on various items and treatments to improve their appearances. In current times, the perception of an ideal beauty standard turns the majority of women and men into the hostages of circumstances. Because of the unreasonably high standards of beauty, many boys and girls are unhappy and disappointed about their appearances. The perception of the size and shape of the body, its weight, and physical characteristics are directly linked to an individuals self-image and the way these feelings influence ones behavior. In case ones body perception does not fit the societal ideal, one can experience body dissatisfaction. Consequently, this might lead to the development of unhealthy behaviors, namely eating disorders, chronic dieting, and depressed state. Peoples behaviors related to beauty perceptions can be expressed in different ways. A primary objective of young people in social networks is to receive as many likes and feedbacks as possible. That is why they post multiple selfies and flattering photos, they use all kinds of camera filters to enhance their appearance and photoshop themselves to make some parts of their bodies to look thinner or bigger. In such a manner, they try to draw attention of other users to become popular among peers.
Anorexia and obesity are among the urgent problems among teenagers nowadays. Day after day, a great number of boys and girls try to overcome the consequences of these diseases and take control of their lives. However, there is a great amount of advertisements promoting junk food, while the ideal image of an attractive person requires being thin and healthy. Moreover, a great number of women are obsessed with losing weight even when they are in a good shape. Such an obsession can lead to eating disorders, severe health problems, and even death. Recently, popular social networks have admitted that certain types of photos can provoke different types of health disorders. Such hashtags as bikinibody, thinspiration, and proanorexia or other appearance-related hashtags, such as attractive, sopretty etc., are no longer available for search because they may promote self-harm and other disorders . The use of media use undoubtedly contributes to the expansion of eating disorders and plays a pivotal role in the formation of wrong self-perception and body dissatisfaction.
Not that long ago, a new phenomenon emerged among the users of one of the most famous social network Facebook. It is called the Facebook depression. This depressed state occurs when the user spends an unlimited number of hours online. As a result, one experiences the symptoms of depressed state. A desire to be accepted and to stay connected with peers is a crucial issue of active social life of many teenagers. However, the development rate of the online world, which requires constant involvement, creates selected factors of self-awareness and self-perception that may lead to depression in some individuals. When suffering from Facebook depression, people might become socially isolated, psychologically lonely, and develop physical or mental disorders. Oftentimes, they visit suspicious Internet sites and blogs, asking for help and support, which might endorse unhealthy lifestyle, substance abuse, and unsafe sexual promiscuity as well as aggressive and destructive behaviors . Permissiveness and impunity in the Internet enables children to behave aggressively towards their peers. Unfortunately, many children and adolescents experience online bullying, and the number of such cases grows from year to year.
Summarizing all above-mentioned information, one can say that despite the positive impact of rapid information sharing and the development of virtual world, social media impel people to create false identities and to dive into the world of lies and pretense. As a result, this causes depression or other serious disorders. Social networks are the biggest source of dissatisfaction of many young people with their image and appearance. Therefore, adolescents must determine their own limits with regards to how and when to use social networks and other online resources regardless of the positive and negative impacts they might have on them.

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