Six ways to help your kids resist the Photoshop effect
Walk past a supermarket checkout stand and you can’ t help but see models and celebs in bikinis and slinky outfits plastered across magazine covers. Tween favorites such as Taylor Swift and Beyoncé appear all over the internet in glamorous outfits with incredible hair and makeup. And ads on billboards, buses, and subways display long-legged models selling everything from liquor to lipstick. Kids are bombarded with images of men and women — famous or not — who look perfect. Too perfect, in fact. And that’s thanks to photo editing, which, as many of us parents know, can eliminate a model’s pimples, make a celeb’s cellulite disappear, and lengthen legs, slim waists, and erase wrinkles. But kids aren’ t always so savvy. Kids who see unrealistic bodies or faces or clothing — especially on folks they admire — can feel inadequate as a result. In fact, several studies have shown that reading women’s fashion magazines or looking at images of models has a. Even photos of friends on Instagram or Snapchat are too perfect, thanks to flattering filters and. That’s why it’s important to teach kids about the reality behind the images that surround them. Empowering kids to see behind the photo spreads and the advertisements can help combat the negative effects of these images. The good news is, some kids — and even some celebrities — are talking back to the beauty and advertising industries and taking action to encourage more realistic images. Young people have asked magazines that cater to kids and teens, such as to do more photo spreads that don’ t use Photoshop. for its February 2017 issue. Some clothing companies, such as ModCloth, have agreed to not alter the images of models they use in their ads. Celebrities (including Zendaya and Lena Dunham) have stepped up to show a more realistic image of themselves online and in photo shoots, and in doing so they help pull back the curtain on the amount of retouching that goes on in Hollywood and beyond.
