By: Sydney Burns | Writer & Emma Earlywine | Writer
September 27, 2017
This past Sunday, September 24, 2017, marks the 10 year anniversary of the hit reality TV show, “Keeping up with the Kardashians.”
Throughout the past decade, the Kardashians have taken the world by storm. The Kardashians first started out as a source for comedy relief, then they quickly escalated to one of the most iconic families of the industry. With the influence of the Kardashians on lives today, most teens expect the “body goals,” lavish lifestyles, and the ageless faces, shown by the Kardashian clan.
Throughout the years of television and social media, the “perfect” body images have been flashed in the faces of millions of teens worldwide. With these images and videos scattered over all social media platforms, many teens have begun to feel fat or not beautiful because of the photos shown of celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner. For example, in March 2016, Kim Kardashian posted a nude mirror selfie on Instagram. This post was littered with comments from teen girls saying things like, “Why can’t I look like that?” and “Wow I am fat.”
When asking students from SCHS about how they feel about the Kardashians and the message they send, we received answers like this, “The Kardashians set a certain body type and beauty, that many teens feel they need to be like” said senior Steven Ross. “They set an unrealistic body goal for normal people, because they have the help of plastic surgery and expensive products.”
Nowadays, with the technology and social media platforms available to us, teens need to remember that how you act and treat people is more important than the outside image of who you are.
With the past decade of having the social media platforms and the influence of the Kardashians, almost all the teens today do not remember a time without Iphones, or a time without the Kardashians. With the fashion and beauty icons being constantly flashed in our faces through social media platforms like Instagram, SnapChat, and Twitter, it feels like the Kardashians grip on the world today is only getting tighter. In the past decade we have seen a significant change in the appearances of the family, highlighting the sisters, Khloe Kardashian and Kylie Jenner.
Recently Khloe replied to an interview with Life&Style magazine, “I definitely am a fan of plastic surgery. We’re all putting on a mask basically every day anyway…you’re changing who you are, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.” Khloe supports the idea of changing the outside appearance of people with the use of plastic surgery. This opinion provided by an iconic figure, has the potential to eschew the views of teens today.
Senior Sierra Moore, commented, “With all the plastic surgery and the alterations of people’s faces, it feels like there is so much pressure to be perfect today.” This is a sad thought to think that many teens today suffer from the insecurities of not being “beautiful enough” for the world today. In 2016 it has been reported that over 64,000 teens get plastic surgery each year. This is an outrageous amount of teens that pay a significant amount of money to alter their physical appearances, to impress others and themselves. With the past 10 years of the Kardashians sparking an increase in self insecurity and plastic surgery in teens, who knows what the next decade will bring.
Well written and a good perspective.