How Media Positively Influences Body Image

Student Name Course Instructor Date How Media Positively Influences Body Image Technological breakthroughs and developments have brought both positive and negative effects in the society. It has opened up the world into one global village where information on everything and everyone is easily accessible through the internet and most specifically through the social media platforms such as Facebook and twitter. These platforms have been able to reconnect people and families who had become strangers because of the amount of time they had not seen each other. Also it has shortened distances as people in different continents are able to connect through video calls and even exchange photos real time. However, these media platforms have destroyed people’s perception of life in general as the internet is the one stop knowledge area where all reach out before deciding on serious life choices. It has also helped shift individual perception on their physical self and the feelings and thoughts that arise from the perceptions, otherwise known as body image. Their thoughts and behaviors have completely been turned upside down with the notion that the internet and media have all the answers. The society nowadays is the complete opposite of what Henry David Thoreau, the protagonist in the novel Walden advocated for when he chose to cut himself from civilization for two good years and seclude himself deep in the forest and recollect about his life. The essay intends to analyze the positive and negative impacts of media on body image through various sources that have been written over time including the significance of the book Walden and the story of Thoreau. The traditional world of Thoreau is very peaceful as compared to the modern times characterized by the dynamic global changes brought about by the spread of the media. In the narrative Walden, Thoreau is shown as a free spirit who decided to experiment by living out in the wilderness for two years all alone and cut off from all aspects of civilization. He chooses to live a simplified lifestyle as opposed to the struggles of the city where people are up and running all the time trying to work and finance their exorbitant lifestyles. The author notes: “Most of the luxuries, and many of the so called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have ever lived a simpler and meager life than the poor. None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage ground of what we should call voluntary poverty. Of a life of luxury the fruit is luxury, whether in agriculture, or commerce, or literature, or art” (Thoreau 57). His idea of a simple life is seen through the structure he built proudly by himself that had hardly any material belongings and his farming escapades of foodstuffs outside his homestead. He compares his house to that of the Gods at Mount Olympus and he felt free despite the stark reality that he was all alone in the forest with nothing. He notes “Olympus is but the outside of the Earth everywhere” (Thoreau 93). He perceives himself free from all shackles of civilization and equates his moving in to his wooden house to the attainment of independence by the United States. The author highlights Thoreau’s journey for spiritual understanding and shows the possibility that materialistic society places on an individual’s path. Thoreau advocates for self-improvement, self-reliance and the cultivation of our intellectual and spiritual needs. He states “We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake by an infinite expectation of the dawn which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the questionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor” (Thoreau 125). His experience at Walden Pond gives him the opportunity to journey into himself, nature and divine. He shares “By living deliberately, self-reliantly and independently in the present, we may transcend the limits of time and walk with the builder of the universe and not live in this restless, nervous bustling, rival Nineteenth century” (Thoreau 276). Thoreau further advocates the importance of reading and emphasizes in depth reading which does not involve just the bible. He was engaged in reading books after successfully completing the building of his small house and even mentions that it was something he couldn’t do before in the “outside world”. In addition, his involvement in nature is shown by his participation in hunting and fishing which in turn improved his evolution toward spiritual consciousness. Social media platforms have been used positively to advocate for body image. These include global campaigns such as the Dove Campaign for Real beauty. Tiggemann notes that “only four percent of women around the world consider themselves beautiful” (Tiggemann 128). The campaign encouraged women of all sizes to appreciate themselves and consider the fact that they were wonderfully made in the image of God. The campaign included a beauty pageant where women of all sizes were crowned. Social media has also been used to bring people who share body weight concerns together and who have formed groups that they help to appreciate each other. Many organizations have also in the recent past have featured advertisements on their websites and mainstream media showing people of diverse body types who had different heights, shapes and different skin complexions. There have also been popular hash tags on social media platforms like twitter that have been significant in advocating for body image. One such hash tag that went viral and was very successful was the #whatmakesme beautiful campaign ...