5 Ways Reality TV makes us self conscious
When I was a teenager, we all compared ourselves to our friends and stars on TV and in magazines. It was before the days of reality TV like Love Island, Keeping up with the Kardashians and other such nonsense. Do you ever see them having fun and pulling silly faces in a photo booth? No, because they are all too worried about their appearance and need to live a little, in my opinion!
All the people in this kind of show wear lots of makeup, are slim, and often have cosmetic surgery. Whilst we don’t all have the money for those filters and Photoshop help us to achieve the same look. I genuinely think these things all make us more self-conscious as people. Happiness should be key and not looks! Here are five reasons why.
Make Up
Do you wear make-up every day? I know I don’t! I very rarely wear it. Even the people I know who wear make-up most days do not put it on immediately they wake up, they have days without it or days with spots. Reality TV only seems to show those made up perfectly, except, of course, I’m a Celebrity, where they all look dirty and eat horrible foods!
By using filters, you can achieve this effect a little, but the reality is you will never look like the people on TV because they usually don’t even look like that.
Teeth
Why do so many videos, photos etc, edit teeth to make them look so white? I know some people are blessed with amazingly straight teeth, all perfectly white, when they smile. The reality is that most people are not. They don’t tell you the money these people have all spent on having their teeth done! There, of course, is cheap cosmetic dentistry, but do you want it or feel you need it because the celebrities have it?
Hair Colouring
Celebrities never have roots showing where their hair colour is growing out! Why? Because they want to always look perfect! I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to have my hair recoloured weekly, nor would I want to spend that much time on it. How often do you colour your hair or have it coloured?
Fake bits
Why do we need to change our bodies? I have bits of my body I am not keen on, everyone does, but more people now get cosmetic surgery than in the past. Is this because it is cheaper and as such, more accessible, or instead that we are becoming more self-conscious?
My body is my body, unless medical issues required me to have surgery on it I am not sure I would ever change it, even with the money. Would you? Excluding, of course, those people who genuinely have accidents or disfigurements from birth, who I am sure have different feelings regarding this.
Clothes
When was the last time you saw someone on reality TV in old clothes or last season’s outfit? I do wonder how many times on shows like Love Island they change throughout a day of filming. Their clothes always look so perfect with no creases.
The stars always have expensive brands, and never do you see them in clothes from the supermarket or even most high street stores. I guess they have the money to but it does tend to make us self-conscious, doesn’t it?
My thoughts on filters and Photoshop
While I do use filters and Photoshop-type programmes, it is more of a way of brightening up photos taken in less than perfect lighting rather than editing out spots or changing my look. I guess everyone is different, though and with filters being free and easy to add, maybe I am being too precious and everyone should do it more?
What do you think? Do you like to keep all your photos natural or do you edit them as much as you can? Have reality TV shows and social media changed the way you feel about yourself? Would you attribute any confidence issues you have to seeing celebrities looking perfect or do you think you would feel that way regardless?
Whilst we are on the subject of these things, I use a lot of stock photos, for example, as our kitchen is rather full and cluttered! Is that just as bad? Should everyone just be themselves and own their stuff or do you love being able to cheat a little? I think I will stick with cheating a little but not too much!
