Courtney Arriola
September 18, 2014
ENGL099-14
Unit Paper #1 Media Literacy
How does Media dominate us? As a society people are so used to all the forms of media that we come in contact with on a daily basis. One of the most viewed forms of media is advertising, although it is not something we choose to absorb into our lives on a daily basis. There is no way to avoid media advertising in modern society. People have become so caught up in everyone else’s lives and the drama they are facing, or even being jealous of what they have. This goes too far with their obsession with celebrities. There is so much time and energy wasted on trying to be like everyone’s favorite celebrity, whether it’s looking like them, having the confidence people think these celebrities have or just wanting to be them. Those people are just that; people like you and I. What is so wrong with being who we are? There are so many famous people that are completely miserable so many of them commit suicide or just live their lives depressed and lonely. That saying “money doesn’t buy happiness” is so true and we all know it. It has been said to us as a warning not to become money hungry, but everything is about money now a days. We have a horrible habit of comparing our lives to these people that put up a fake persona but we look up to them as role models. So many people see the lives of other people and think that it is the meaning of a perfect life just because they see it to be better than their life. In reality no one is perfect. Everyone has issues and flaws that they would rather not expose to the public. That is exactly what happens to those celebrities, the press is just waiting for something like that to come out in the open so they can take advantage of the situation many celebs become more famous for it. Why would anyone want to have that lifestyle, every flaw or bad habit we might have all out in the open for others to gossip about? Everyone has secrets and things they are not proud of. That doesn’t mean that anyone should try to be or act like anyone else. We are who we are. It makes us unique, I love being different from other people. I have my own style and personality, but sometimes I find that it is hard not to compare myself to those beautiful women with thick long hair and a perfect body, even though those women don’t even look that way it’s usually Photoshopped. No one is perfect it is just an illusion created by these big companies that spend millions of dollars on these ads to make people feel bad about themselves and to alter their perception on how people are supposed to look. There are so many products to change the way people look. You can spend hundreds of dollars on make-up and other products, apply it, and just like magic you look like a total different person. That being said people that don’t go all out to make themselves a different person are criticized for not doing what everyone else is doing or wearing. Young people for example so many of them are viciously bullied every day for not being the same as everyone else. For some reason young people are behaving this way because they think that it is okay. I have no idea what goes