Teenage Magazine Expectations

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The writer Maya Angelou once said “In a magazine, one can get - from cover to cover - 15 to 20 different ideas about life and how to live it”. Do magazines marketed for teenagers send the wrong message? As a child growing up life moves quickly and new ideas are absorbed in a way that can influence people inadequately or adequately. With mass media introduced through teen magazines new ideas are portrayed through the media enhancing these negative and positive thoughts in teens. This new medial world which is created through the imagination of girls creates life style expectations that are hard to meet. Teens start to believe they need to appear beautiful or perfect to fit a certain perception, to fit into society. The belief of having a…show more content…
But, as a young teen expectations can be hard to meet and can cause a negative response that some do not see. The supposition that a young girl feels seem to fit into a mold that is created by these magazines which destroys the self-esteem leading to depression and potentially suicide as a teenager. And, as a teenager depression should not be caused by assumptions that are created by the media. One way teen magazines create expectations is to reassert a certain lifestyle through celebrities. Celebrity news is published weekly for people to become obsessed over their lives. Teen magazines introduce obsession to people at a young age. Suddenly wealth, beauty, and weight loss becomes important to a young girl who opens a teen magazine. Once seeing the lives of other people even if it´s unrealistic to their situation they try to search their own perception of their own life making themselves depressed. This perception of wealth and beauty becomes important when it should not be and becomes a distraction that leads to the destruction of many girls. According to healthychildren.org a study by Kaiser Family Foundation analyses the top four teen magazines in the market. Forty-four percent of the articles focused on dating…show more content…
The web page healthychildren.org also added that a mere 12 percent is reserved in a magazine for advice about school and careers. So what becomes important to a girl who opens a magazine and see´s 44 percent dating and sex, 37 percent appearance and only 12 percent dedicated to life and career advice. While looking at psychcentral.com I read an article about seventeen magazine and how they created a positive body image campaign and hired a body peace expert to answer questions publicly in the magazine about body issues. I read on psychcentral.com from a press release that “we are facing a crisis in teen body image” said by seventeen´s editor in chief and socket. This campaign ads a profound new dimension to seventeens position as fashion and beauty authority for teen girls. While it´s their goal to help girls looks great there mission is empty if they do not feel great too. The perception of looking great does not exist, a body peace expert is not needed if a young teen already accepts themselves because acceptance of oneself´s if the first step to competence and success. Seventeen magazine´s enhancement of a false reality through can cause many teens
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