What role does the media and social networks play in shaping our standards of attractiveness?
In this article I will talk about my experience as well as my observations of how the media and social networks influence our understanding of attractiveness.
I rewind back to when I was 18 years old and already actively exploring Instagram. At that time, my peers followed trends and popular bloggers who showed ideal skin on their faces and what cream they used to make it look that way. We also observed how people change their hair color and apply makeup to look good. Of course, we see that a lot of people write comments and a lot of likes for this publication. And when we 18-year-old children return to our page, there are not many comments, there are not many likes. And when we look in the mirror, there are acne on the face, which causes a feeling of sadness. And at that time it seemed to me that something was wrong with me….. like many of my friends.
In search of the ideal appearance, we teenagers bought advertising products that claimed: “By purchasing this product, you will become beautiful. Without this product, you are not beautiful enough.” After all, who doesn’t strive to be attractive?
By telling us that we are not beautiful enough, the company’s profits increased. Our appearance did not change, the acne remained the same. And all sorts of scrubs that were shown in advertisements did not help, but on the contrary, worsened the condition of the skin.
My friend spends a lot of time on Instagram, following trends and fashion. She watched the models, what they did and how they lived, of course secretly wanting to have what they had, from their appearance to expensive things. My friend had a pretty appearance, many guys paid attention to her. But social networks and the media did their job, and she began to change her appearance and look for ways to become even more attractive, losing her natural beauty. One day we met in a cafe. I immediately noticed her lips because she enlarged them. I asked her: “Why did you do that? You had your own natural ones and everything looked good.”
To which she replied: “With these lips I feel more confident than before. And anyway, I’m only a little.”
The same thing happened to another friend. She used to tell me how stupid girls are for enlarging their lips. And then I myself was subjected to this trend. My boss considered herself not very attractive and also decided to get her lips done.
Before meeting me, my husband dyed his dark hair, sometimes blond, sometimes light brown — following fashion through magazines, advertisements, etc. After meeting me, he realized that he didn’t need all this, because he was loved not for his appearance — but for something more.
I don’t blame them, it’s their choice. It just hurt me to see what the media does to people. People stopped appreciating their natural beauty, began to buy more unnecessary things, and purchased €1000 worth of unnecessary services… Bringing profit to the company, but not without bringing benefit for yourself.
I, too, was a victim of beauty channels, I previously wrote in an article “Whoever seeks the truth will certainly find it.” about how I tried keratin hair restoration. All this continued until I realized that this was just a business that brought in more money.
This range of influence on people is large; if you look closely, you can see it everywhere. Of course, if everyone understands this, many companies will close because there are no buyers. Nowadays, companies aren’t interested in bringing benefits to humanity, they are interested in how much profit I can get from my product/service.
Good looks aren’t the key to a successful relationship. Often, good looks are used for sex. Before a date, girls dress beautifully, paint their eyes and lips to make guys like them. Yes, the guy liked her, but not in the role of a wife, but in the role of I’ll sleep with you today (what does it mean there will be sex).
It is n’t the beauty of appearance by all the preparations, cosmetologists, make-up and hair dye that saves the world. The beauty of the soul and the beauty of health save the world.
How many suggestions from the media and social networks… You aren’t beautiful enough, you aren’t healthy enough, you aren’t thin enough, you have crooked teeth, what kind of clothes are you wearing?, you are stupid and so on. . Why do they do this? So that you feel bad and go buy a product that will make you “beautiful”, “healthy”, etc. This is a marketing ploy through human psychology.
In marketing, there needs to be a demand from the customer for the product. If there is no demand (meaning all people are self-aware and know about their natural beauty and more), there are no sales. To create demand, it is necessary to artificially generate it. How, you may ask. To which I would reply, “By instilling the belief that you are ugly, stupid, or ill.” And how best to spread my suggestion? Where people spend a lot of time. And where is that today? That’s right, in the media and social networks. Well, my dear readers, I’m glad that you’ve also joined the circle of the self-aware.
My dear readers, thank you for reading to the end. I wish you true beauty of the soul, true love and health — after all, no amount of money can buy this!
