RAB Source Entry 3- Sindy J.

Research Question:

“Does social media effect a teenage girl’s body image?”

Proposal:

My research question is “Does social media effect a teenage girl’s body image?”. This topic interests me because of personal and social reasons. When I was 13 years old, I got my first phone.  I used to follow celebrities on Instagram and compared myself to them because they were seemed perfect according to the beauty standards that have been established by the entertainment industry. This made me focus on all my flaws, which created insecurities in me that I never knew I had before. Another reason this topic interests me is the negative impact of social media on young adults is a common issue as I have seen on different social media platforms. I already know that social media can be a very negative space for teen girls. Social media can ruin a girl’s confidence by bringing up new insecurities because it only takes one comment for it to become a problem in a girl’s mind. Social media is also a deceiving space because many celebrities have had surgeries done or use filters to change their appearances and post it online. Many people have ignored this problem long enough. Society needs to raise self-awareness about young people’s self-esteem of themselves.  Some points that I plan to explore and find out more about the correlation between the age teenage girls started using social media and their perception of their body image, and how they perceive themselves before and after using social media.

Part 1: MLA Citation

“Social Media’s Impact on Teens’ Body Image”, CBC News: The National, YouTube, May 24, 2022,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfrbNZUtlvk  

Part 2: Summary

In this news video “Social Media’s Impact on Teens’ Body Image” by CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporate) News tells us the perspectives of social medias one and only beauty standard. We see the Madison O’Dell with her group of friends arriving to sit by the of Newfoundland, Canada editing the pictures they have just taken to fit their liking. They fix all their flaws they see on each other whether it be their changing their eye shape or acne. Madison Odell admits to the reporter, David Coleman, that she realized social media is one of the causes for her slowly losing her confidence in her looks. Madison Odell became hyper fixated on her flaws in all her pictures and restricted herself from foods she loved to fit the images she sees online because she always compares herself to it. Once she realized what was her problem, she wrote an article CBC on her experience to show that they aren’t the only one struggling with the expectation from social media. Then we are introduced to Holly, a 16-year-old girl, who was bullied for her nose shape not looking a certain way. Holly sees how many influencers or models online get things enhanced through surgery and she wanted to do the same to make her feel better. Holly didn’t think her nose suit her, so she wanted surgery to get a small dainty nose like she has seen on the people she looks up to. Even though she didn’t get the nose she wanted at first, she still came out with something that looked better for her. Her surgeon, Dr. Beunasisi, talks about being worried for many teens having unrealistic expectations due to the pictures they see on social media because not everybody can get the same results they come in with. David Coleman, the reporter, then talks to Cara Roselle Smith, a afro-indigenous influencer, on how she communicates with her followers that we need to unlearn what we were made to believe is beautiful and relearn what truly is the concept of beauty. 

Part 3: Reflection 

I liked how the video not only showed the different perspective of teenage girls by showing us how it impacted them with little scenes. Teenage girls will focus on every flaw they see on themselves even if other people don’t see it. All it takes is for them to see it even if it’s just a pimple because once they see it then it means other people will see it too, right? Well, no because other people don’t care or even notice it. I used to be so self-conscious if I had pimple on my face even if I covered it with makeup, I would still think about it being on my face the whole day. I slowly began realizing that people don’t really notice because one time when I was with my friend, she mentioned her pimple on her face, and I never noticed it until she pointed it out to me. Also, I have seen many of influencers that I watch get surgeries to change their nose shape or body shape to feel better of themselves. It’s not a bad thing to get these surgeries but you can see that all these influencers want to look a certain way, trying to fit into today’s beauty standard.

Part 4: Rhetorical Analysis

David Coleman’s, reporter, audience is to reach teenage girls to let them know that other girls also struggle with the expectations of social media today. Coleman choice this video was great because he not only sat down and interviewed them but he includes clips showing how they were being affected. He uses the appeal of pathos by demonstrating how they retouch all their photos and how many girls try to get surgery, showing the audience that they aren’t the only ones who care about fitting in. David Coleman is a CBC news reporter but has also worked in New York and Paris as a journalist. CBC News: The National is owned by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It is broadcasted into over 10 million homes in Canada. It was one of the first Canadian broadcast media to be awarded Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) certification. CBC News intends to showcase the experiences of Canadians and allow people from across the country to share what they have lived through.

Part 5: Notable Quotables

“But the constant pressure to look a certain way, always critiquing pictures of herself was not good for Madison mental health.” (1:19)

“It all created the illusion of one beauty standard category where many simply don’t fit.” (1:56)

“What worries me I just that kids are seeing images or wanting to look like the images they see on the internet or in social media that just isn’t realistic.” (3:46)

“We living an age that almost all of the media we consume is altered.”(5:24)

“realizing there not one fix  we really have to go within and realize that the standard of beauty that fed and the things that we’ve been fed over time have contributed to what we think is beautiful and why we need to change anything in the first place, if we can kind of deconstruct and unlearn that then maybe the surgery and other things aren’t needed.” (6:34)