xham+Digital+and+Print+Media



 * The Affect of Digital and Print Media on Teens - Case study Dolly Magazine - Xavier Hazard **

//Digital and Print Media can have very negative effects on teenagers going through puberty. It can give them false pretenses of what is 'normal' and make them feel uncomfortable with how they look and who they are. The following case studies show how the media can negatively affect adolescences.//

These magazines are very popular amongst teenage girls and are sold in almost all newsagents and supermarkets. However, they give completely false impressions on what is 'normal' for teenage girls to look like, do and feel. To begin with the 'normal' girl (as portrayed by these magazines) is a skinny, tanned girl that has already had heaps of boyfriends and should be on a diet. This is completely unrealistic as the teenage girls that read this magazine may be still going through puberty (in which you body grows, both horizontally and vertically!) and it would be unhealthy for them to go on a diet at this age. Also, it is unrealistic that every girl who reads this magazine would have or have had a boyfriend. These magazines would then cause girls that are not 'normal' to feel alienated and make them feel self-conscience and depressed. These magazines can also have material in them that is completely stupid or innapropriate that will cause the reader to make judgements about themselves. Two examples are:
 * Dolly Magazine**

· '**Thought of the week:** **Problems are like diets. The more you put them off, the more you have to loose.//'Dolly Magazine.//** This is completely innapropriate to have in a young girls' magazine because it hints that diets are a normal part of being a teenager when they are very unhealthy (a reader of this would think themselves 'abnormal' if they didn't start to go on a diet).

· Recently on the Dolly website pictures were posted of celebrities in bikinis and the page was entitled 'Bikini styles for your shape' however the pictures were of only skinny (and obviously airbrushed) celebrities in bikinis that would be completely unreasonable for young girls to wear. These pictures would once again cause a girl reading this to feel self-conscience because they don't fit into a size 8 bikini! Young girls at that age shouldn't have to worry about whether they look as good as models or whether they are wearing clothes that are in fashion!

Tips for how to avoid being negatively affected by these magazines: · If possible avoid these magazines altogether! · Know that all the pictures of celebrities and models that feature in these magazines are airbrushed before they are published and many part of the pictures aren't realistic (e.g. Miley Cyrus doesn't have flawless skin). · Do not take any of the advice given by the magazine (e.g. don't go on the latest diet that the magazine says is really cool and effective). · Remember that celebrities are celebrites and models are models, they are paid to look good so try not to compare yourself to them. · Do not worry about being 'normal' in the eyes of the magazine. You don't have to be a size 8 to be attractive. You don't have to wear the latest clothes to be cool. · Don't feel self-conscience because you are who you are and you are beautiful not matter what some magazine stereotypes'beautiful' as. · Above all remember you are probably still going through puberty and your body is changing so it is not healthy to look like a celebrity (no doubt they didn't look perfect when they were going through puberty).

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