Kim 1

TaeJin Kim
Prof. Lisa Packer
English 2010
16 April 2015
Appearance for Sale
Reportedly, adults in the United States spend 11 hours a day and teenagers spend 7
hours a day to use the media on average. Except for the time we necessarily have to get away
from the media for sleeping and eating, we approximately consume the entire day to be with
media. So, the media must be the huge impact to our thought and ideality in unconscious
ways. People should be more aware of the influences of what they see in the media not to
compare themselves to the unrealistic images.
The media always shows the audience ideal images of people, and sometimes it can
be distorted as the image of the media are relevant to financial benefits of the media
corporations. Therefore, people have started to compare themselves to the image that they see
from the TV shows or magazines, such as luxurious lifestyles of upper classes, or fashion
models who have extremely thin bodiesthe model bodies of the fashion magazines are even
photoshoped imagesthat do not even commonly happen in our real lives.
So I strongly believe that the popularity of the plastic surgery has come from the
effects of the media. The idealized images of the media especially have more impacts on not
only the women as they are more sensitive about their appearance, but also teenagers since
they are probably having a hard time growing up. I do not object to plastic surgery for the
recovery of serious injuries. However, if you would like to have plastic surgery just to
improve appearance, I believe this is a problem. Fundamentally a humans body is created
with a certain type of natural balance. Once you break the natural balance, you surely will
want to fix more parts on your face or body. Besides, plastic surgery is a procedure of

Kim 2
uncertainty. Countless people die while they undergo plastic surgery or after the surgery, and
some of them suffer severe side effects for the rest of their lives. It is a tragedy that the
women might risk their lives for their appearance.
Women and teenagers are not the only consumers of media. Men consume media as
well, but they have had relatively more power in the world. So we should not blame those
who have plastic surgery or want to have it. Because they also can be victims. The plastic
surgery can be a personal choice in the society we live in, but we have to think about what
makes them take the risks of their lives.

Kim 3
Works Cited
Petronzio, Matt. "U.S. Adults Spend 11 Hours Per Day With Digital Media [CHART]."
Mashable. 5 Mar. 2014. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
"Youths Spend 7 Hours/Day Consuming Media." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 20 Jan. 2010.
Web. 22 Apr. 2015.