Can the media’s negative impact on young mind be attributed to the media’s portrayal of so called “Perfection?” This question can be answered with a single word: Oui. Young minds are very impressionable and are easily taken in by the so called “Media Bubble.” This phenomenon can be described as being the glitzy and glamorous world that exists within the covers of a magazine, on the channels of the television, on the air waves of the radio and also in the pages of a book. These images do have a lasting impression on the younger and older generations. This is not to say that they cannot think for themselves but it just becomes easier when there is someone else telling you what to do and who to be.

A few days ago, a certain incident had me reminiscing about the path of destruction I took a few years ago. My little cousin (about 6 years old) was refusing to eat her lunch. When I asked her why she said that she was on a diet because Aiswarya Rai (a popular Indian actress) was tall and skinny and she wanted to be just like her. Literally my jaw hit the floor. Since when do 6 year olds diet??!!?? I should have seen this coming after all there are people out in China and Japan getting leg extensions put in surgically so they can be taller and record number of kids are entering beauty pageants. The fact of the matter is the society is very superficial and there is no way around it and I am definitely a part of this society. These eating disorders are very common among young girls but have now started to surface among males as well. I do believe it’s high time we as a society take a step back and evaluate what we are doing wrong.

I am a recovering Bulimic/Anorexic. Will I ever be cured completely? Probably not. As much as I would like to think I’m cured of this disease (this is a disease despite many contradictions), the fact of the matter is most often than naught recovering Anorexics and Bulimics have relapses and have to live with this for the rest of their lives. It all started around the time I started middle school and saw myself as being fat and ugly (age 14). My family further contributed to this (in a tremendous way), by always comparing me to my skinnier counterparts and asking why I could not be more like them. Added to all this was the constant bombardment of “The Perfect Woman/Girl” portrayed by the media. This vision of perfection, as I see it, is a tall, skinny, long legged walking-beauty. There was no one around to tell me that beauty comes from the inside and is not strictly superficial. I never knew otherwise. It took a lot of soul searching and tons of hours on the therapist’s “couch” to find that inner beauty. This is not an easy task because venturing into un-chartered territory always garners fear but in the end you will see the newfound respect for life and for yourself.

The portrayal of “perfection” in the media is not just limited to beauty alone. There are many other factors of life where we let the media execute decisions for us rather than educating ourselves prior to making the decision. This is one of the biggest mistakes, we as individuals, commit. There comes a time in every human’s life where he/she needs to dig deep inside and come up with the answer for lingering questions. This answer may not always be right but we can walk away having the satisfaction of being able to think for ourselves. So the time has definitely come for each individual to stand up for what they believe in and not be ashamed to shout it out to the entire world. The media is nothing but an entity created by us and we have the power to change it and the need to change it has definitely arose!