The media can influence every household in America. Not only is he able to influence through television, but he can also influence through magazines, newspapers, word of mouth and even clothing! The qualities of a person that the media tends to influence the most are their self-esteem and their personality. Women are particularly considered influenced, but men are also part of the group, although less published. Children are also being put under the influence at a younger age, in each generation. With greater media influence in families, we can expect more social problems. Many people might think that they are not influenced by the media, but in reality they are. Andersen in Thinking About Women writes: “Each of us sees thousands of advertisements a day. Advertisements not only sell the products we use, but they also convey images of how we should define ourselves, our relationships, and our needs” (57). Every time we turn on the television, we can expect about twenty minutes of an hour-long show to be commercials. These advertisements are normally aimed at women and how to become young again. Growing old in society for women is seen as a failure and according to media influence, if your age shows it, you don't care about your self-image. In return, women will spend money on beauty products that are sworn to work, but never will. The perfect woman is unattainable because we come from different nationalities and because of these differences, women will never be able to copy their idol, which will cause their self-esteem to drop. As the media continues to say that women must look a certain way, more and more women will try to achieve the perfect body image. Men are considered less influenced by the media than women. But they too are influenced in the same way. Bottom...... middle of paper......the media has influenced their opinion on the appearance of men or women. Also a trend among the majority who belonged to the younger generation category, they recently graduated from high school or are attending college. Through my survey, I came to the conclusion that young people do not believe that the media influences them, that they have lower self-esteem and that they spend a lot of time on their appearance. Works cited by Andersen, Margaret L. and Dana Hysock. Witham. Thinking about women: sociological perspectives on sex and gender. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2009. Print.Barlett, Christopher P., Christopher L. Vowels, and Donald A. Saucier. “Meta-analyses of the effects of media images on men’s body image concerns.” Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 27.3 (2008): 279-310. Premier Academic Research. Internet. March 4, 2014. Mead, Margaret – Blackberry Winter. Conway 283-308.