Searching for websites that are appropriate for teenagers can be difficult in today’s society. Targeting their interests while still encouraging academic, social, and intellectual growth can be a very difficult task. Unfortunately, many websites that are available currently to teens have given up on the latter half of this mission, and instead provide shallow opinions and superficial advice that ends up corrupting instead of improving.
Some of the websites that target teenage girls are particularly influential. In trying to find teen-appropriate websites, I located three sites suggested by a “Teens Only” link site. All three turned out to be websites promoting popular teenage magazines; specifically, Seventeen, YM, and Teen People. During the tender teenage years, girls already have enough problems trying to distort their physical images to match those presented by the critical media. Certain TV stations such as MTV constantly brainwash teenagers into believing that in order to be “cool” and “accepte
Articles highlighted on the websites focus almost solely on looks as well. Instead of discussing current controversial issues or the war that many people feel is inevitable, the biggest worry expressed by these websites is how to get rid of a zit before the big date. TeenPeople emphasized “what the stars were wearing”, and had long gossip columns devoted to the daily routines of famous celebrities. Nowhere were the girls encourage to express themselves as individuals, whether it be in the makeup they used, the clothes they wore or the fashion products they used to accessorize.
In Seventeen, even the articles dubbed as “serious” or as being “real life” seemed to revolve around looks in some way. Despite a few erratically placed articles dealing with eating disorders or social dilemmas, being beautiful was still the only goal being constantly reinforced by the vast array of pictures, ads, model shoots, and celebrity shots. By making these beautiful people present on almost every page, girls are taught
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