A girl sits in her bed, scrolling through her Instagram feed and sees a cute pair of shoes she thinks she needs. Later on, this same girl sees a picture of a young woman rocking a crop top while scrolling through her Twitter feed on her laptop. She stops and wonders, why can’t I look like that? Why aren’t I that thin? Why isn’t my skin that flawless?

Social Media accounts such as Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter according to an article on “The Effect of Social Media in Young Girls,” these sites may cause young girls to feel insecure by images of other women, and it also can cause insecurities among themselves.

“Sixty-two percent of girls are insecure about themselves,” according to an article “Girl Self-Esteem & Image Issues & Parents.”

Clothing

Girls may be feeling insecure due to the pressures placed on them to dress a certain way. According to an article “The Effect of Social Media In Young Girls,” “The media advertises photoshopped images of models that often influences girls to believe that if they buy this product or clothing of theirs, they will achieve a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction that is only achievable through this purchase.”

Girls tend to want to be like the models they see on the internet and wanting to wear the same things as they do, putting them in a depressing state due to complications of not getting what they want. Money is a big part of why these young teenagers become unsatisfied with the way they look because of clothing being too expensive. This then causes not only doubts in themselves, but to then lose their self-worth throughout time.

Jealousy arises in some girls when it comes to others having more money and accessories, which could make teenagers wish they had everything that the other girl does. They become very vulnerable to self images and their insecurity leads them to feel that in order for them to be noticeable, they should have beautiful clothes and have a certain fashion that is “acceptable” in today’s society.

Body Image

Images of young adults such as celebrities and models have one of the biggest impacts on teenage girls. According to an article on “Teen Health and the Media,” “One study reports that at age 13, 53 percent of American girls are ‘unhappy with their bodies.’ This grows to 78 percent by the time girls reach 17.”
Studies show that teenagers start feeling insecure at a very young age. When girls see women on the internet who are thin and beautiful, it creates a “perfect image” in their head, causing them to either become depressed of their own appearance, or causing them to resort to self harm to become thin. Body image can create false fantasies for young girls, such as making them want to look a certain way even though everyone has their own body type.

Even though a teenage girl could end up being as thin as other models or celebrities, she will tend to not feel satisfied with herself because each person is unique.

According to an article on “Body Image and Self-Esteem,” “Our tweens and early teens are a time when we become more aware of celebrities and media images — as well as how other kids look and how we fit in. We might start to compare ourselves with other people or media images “ideals” that are frequently airbrushed. All of this can affect how we feel about ourselves and our bodies even as we grow into our teens.”
Overall, we will all end up becoming insecure of our image at some point, no matter the age difference. It’s something young teenage girls happen to go through, and throughout time, they will end up accepting who they are, no matter what they look like.

Personality

Mr. David Markson, school counselor, said, “The lines have moved and continued to be pushed towards more bad behavior, bad language, poor morals.” While growing up, teenage girls are going through many mental changes and they may have a hard time trying to figure out who they are as a person. Girls may become intimidated by other women, who are on television shows, or are famous. For example, young female celebrities who get every picture professionally photoshopped before it is posted could possibly create an unreal expectation for these young and impressionable women.

When these teens watch a reality show and see their “role model” sassing his or her parents, that teen will get negatively influenced which could create attitude towards their parents. This doesn’t go for every teenager out there, but over 50 percent of those surveyed said that they are influenced by media on the way they act and dress.

The way girls treat other teenage girls sometimes in a rude way can be due to what they see and hear through the internet, or through media such as movies, and shows. People start to wonder, why do girls get affected by media so easily? It’s because young girls are still developing mentally, and when they see and hear these things, it gives them ideas and conclusions to thinking they should act that way, and that it’s right to treat other people in a disrespectful manner.

Social media, and televised media can have a huge effect on teenage girls, creating consequences in their actions. It affects girls all together as a whole person involving, the way they dress, their body image, and their personality.