a.     Underweight

b.     Average

c.     Obese 

                                               i.     A great percentage of individuals are in the obese category.

Firger, J. (2017, May). There's a dangerous racial bias in the body mass index. Newsweek, Retrieved from https://sks.sirs.com

Staff, P. (2017). Body image timeline Leading Issues Timelines. Retrieved from https://sks.sirs.com

Social media is so overwhelming it become a necessity especially to young teenagers as they are triggered by the influences of super models and their body shapes and sizes and try to obtain that certain image. The evolution of body images used to be plus size where models had hips and could present themselves in a respective way, as years have passed, it became all about long hair and a flat stomach. Mind you those concepts are still into play but now it seems to be all about fitness and bettering your health. Social media has influenced this in both a positive and negative way by interrupting those to be healthy and eat properly and go to the gym and better themselves in a way that they are confident and happy although it plays a negative way as well because everyone’s body type is different and sometimes it might be hard and almost impossible to get to the point of satisfaction. Becoming comfortable with oneself and learning how to love yourself despite of how you look, feel think or portray yourself to be is becoming more of an issue especially in the younger age groups who are ending elementary school and entering high school or ending high school and going off to college or university. 

 

Because of the rapid ownership of cellphones and technology and younger generations getting introduced, parents or guardians usually spend more or their time patenting on “cyberbullying” and making sure that it won’t occur or how to defend themselves but what about the social media and society body image influence? Where and who are the parents that can make, their child feel special in ways that words can’t describe, where are the individuals who believe in themselves and know they can achieve anything they set their mind to and where are the parents that influence their child to have manners and respect? With visual platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and snapchat, these social media tools deliver ways of communication but allowing teens to earn approval for their current appearance and comparing themselves to others in which lowers body confidence and obtain a negative mirror image. Social media is damaging teens mindsets and getting the idea that it’s about “thin ideal, thick ideal, enlarged breasts, enlarged butt” etc., it seems to never stop, this is not only portrayed on social media but through movies, magazines or television. A great percentage of celebrities influence the younger generation into thinking they should care what everyone else thinks of them and what they should expect in a relationship or how they should look, mind you most of the magazines if not all that are published have at least some form of Photoshop.

 

 Now with the body industry there becomes complications which can influence and trigger eating disorders. Here are more common eating disorders and their definitions, 

·      Anorexia nervosa, simply the fear of gaining weight and often characterized by low weight, they have a strong desire to be thin and results in food restriction. Mirrored image is simply viewing themselves to be overweight but in fact are underweight. 

·      Bulimia nervosa, an eating disorder that is binge eating then followed by purging. Binge refers to eating large amounts of food within a short period, whereas purging refers to the attempt of getting rid of food that has been consumed, often individual make themselves vomit or take laxatives.