I have always wondered about
how our life would be without media. No radio in your cars, no newspaper to
start your day with, no TV in your house and above all that no social media
websites to stay connected with your friends and family. I cannot even imagine.
The fact is that people were happy interacting with each other personally when
there was no social media or radio or television.
As every coin
has two sides, every thing has both advantages and disadvantages and media is
not apart from this either. Media has a great influence in changing the way
people think. We watch programs in television and also watch the commercials
that come in between the programs. We see so many commercials everyday. Those commercials have
as much influence in our life as the programs does. In fact some commercials
are life changing.
We hardly see
and overweight model representing any dress, we hardly see any extra weight
women promoting for even a kitchenware. Models we see not only promote the
products but also make us have a body like theirs. Not everybody has a body
like models shown in TV or in pictures.
When I was
overweight, I used to feel bad for how I looked after seeing those skinny
models in TV shows. Oh did I forget to tell you that I lost 35 pounds over one
years span? Oh yes! I did. But I didn’t starve myself, I watched for the amount
of calories I consumed and the amount of it I burnt while doing zumba. I cut
off on sugar. For me media had a positive influence but for many people media
has been a discouragement. Lot of women starve themselves to lose weight or to
look like those skinny models, which leads them to become anorexic.
Health
educators can play a vital role in educating women who wants to be skinny at
any cost. Health Educators need to come up with a program that teaches women that
they need to be aware of the fact that good health is more important that
perfect figure. If we could make commercials which focuses less on having
skinny body and more on eating proper, nutritious diet, women could stay more
conscious about what they eat more than how they look.
If we look at
the cover pictures in the magazine today and compare with the one from 10 years
ago, we can see a drastic change in how those models look like. I was born with
dark complexion and only I can tell how bad I felt about my darker skin when I
used to see all those fair looking girls in the TV and hoarding boards in the
streets. Only I know how bad I wished that I had a fair and bright skin. While
growing up, I wanted to be fairer and also skinnier like those models. This is
a perfect example of media influencing your life. Even if you compare the
actresses from the old movie with present day’s actresses, you can see a vast
difference. Actors were not all with six – packs and actresses were chubbier
compared to them with current actors and actresses. Humans have a tendency to
do or be what they see, whether it is right or wrong. It is exactly like
smoking after you see your favorite actor smoking.
I can see a
lot of work that the health workers and educators could do in raising awareness
among people about their health. People need to know the limit to which they
can get influenced by media. Nothing is impossible. If I could do it the
healthy way, everybody can do it too. We just need to create positive
reinforcements for them to implement the healthier schedule.
