It's no doubt that we are subject to media and advertisements more than ever due to the use of social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as through magazines and television. We are so often surrounded by images of extremely thin, "perfect" women in these advertisements that we often forget that they are not realistic. The bodies of the women in photographs are altered, "improved", and dramatically slimmed for advertising purposes. The use of photoshopped images allows companies to make women appear impossibly thin for the purpose of selling a product. In the award-winning short film "Slim Hopes", Jean Kilbourne concludes from her twenty-five years of experience from looking at advertisements that, "The current emphasis on excessive thinness for women is one of the clearest examples of advertising's power to influence us, both culturally and individually" (Kilbourne). The use of photoshopped images seen in mass media today can be detrimental to women who are predisposed to mental illnesses like developing an eating disorder. The current practices of photoshop should be abandoned and the availability of self-treatment for these eating disorders should be easier to obtain. 

The media has the powerful ability to manipulate views and opinions of the public through the use of advertising. One way the media has done this is through portraying a beautiful woman as someone who is perfect in every regard. According to the view inserted into today's culture by mass media, beauty is an extremely thin woman that is not real or attainable. Unfortunately, our society has been subjected to these images of thinness for so long that we now believe that sickly skinny women are beautiful. There are even websites that encourage eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder to reach a thinness similar to that of the photoshopped models. Stephan P. Lewis and Alexis E. Arbuthnott researched the harmfulness of websites that appeared when using pro-eating disorder search terms. Lewis and Arbuthnott found and ranked on a scale how harmful the material on websites containing pro-eating disorder terms were. They concluded, "Given the number of pro-ED search terms, the frequency with which they are sought, their widespread global interest, and the harmful material with which many terms associate, this may represent a critical step in preventing the effects that some pro-ED Websites may have on some vulnerable individuals -- namely those who search for them online" (Lewis 204). This means that people are searching pro- eating disorder terms, and rather than being sent to recovery websites, they are often sent to a website encouraging viewers on how to follow an eating disorder. People turn to websites that have harmful content in order to get information on how to get thinner so they can look like the photoshopped models they see in advertisements. These websites promote drastic diets and excessive exercise, and harm those who attempt them. 

Due to the harmfulness and unhealthiness of eating disorders, there have been some movements to reduce or stop the use of photoshop in the media. The photoshopped women in advertisements present an unattainable thinness and trigger those who are mentally predisposed to developing an eating disorder. Deanne Jade, the founder of the National Centre for Eating Disorders (NCFED) in the United Kingdom, stated, "The media presents us with an idealized shape which is invested with attributes of being attractive, desirable, successful and loveable but which is unattainable without resorting to sinister or dangerous eating habits" (Jade). There have been so many accusations that the use of photoshop causes body image problems and the development of eating disorders that the American Medical Association has developed guidelines for photoshopped images. The AMA is encouraging advertisers to work with other companies that are concerned with the mental health of adolescents. This will hopefully decrease the amount of photoshopped images present in advertising (Clemmer). There has also been a movement to create a warning label to be put on images that are photoshopped so that people viewing the image will know that it has been altered. This has been advocated by political officials in both France and Britain and has been widely encouraged by adolescent support groups (Fortini). Although these advancements are going in the right direction, they still allow advertising companies to alter model's bodies and create an unattainable standard of what is considered beautiful. 

Some people believe that eating disorders are triggered because people do not understand the purpose of photoshop. Amanda Fortini claims that photoshop is intended to make images fit into an aesthetic. She says, "Looking at them, one can't help wonder why we resist accepting, or even celebrating, a retouched photo for what it is: an open fiction, a candid fantasy" (Fortini). Fortini believes that photoshopped images of women should be looked at as fantasy or art, but artwork does not follow patterns. Art is creative and changes every time. The photoshopped images we see are all the same. The women have flawless skin, a very large chest, and extremely small waists with thighs that do not touch each other. If photoshopped images were really meant to be a vision of fantasy and artwork, they would be different images every time. Instead, these retouched photos are the same story every time, and that story is that excessive thinness is beautiful.

Advertising companies have been profitable from their use of photoshop images, so they continue to implement images of extremely thin models in their advertisements. However, people actually respond positively to advertisements that do not use photoshop. There have been two recent ad campaigns that have been extremely profitable that did not use any photoshop in their images. Those campaigns are the Aerie Real campaign and the Dove Real Beauty campaign. Aerie brand representative, Jenny Altman said, "'We're hoping to break the mold ...  we hope by embracing this that real girls everywhere will start to embrace their own beauty'" (Dockterman). Likewise, on the Dove company website, it is stated, "The campaign [for real beauty] started a global conversation about the need for a wider definition of beauty after the study proved the hypothesis that the definition of beauty had become limiting and unattainable" (Dove, edited). Both of these advertising campaigns were created to go against the stereotype of extremely thin, photoshopped, models. Similarly, people often want to see untouched pictures of celebrities. This is because celebrities are often photoshopped to perfection. When untouched images of famous celebrities surface, people feel as though they are just like them (Fortini). People respond positively when advertisements show women similar to them. It is when advertisements show an unattainable woman that triggers women to develop an eating disorder. 

Not only could the media stop using photoshop to reduce the triggers of eating disorders, but they could actually be a good influence for positive body image and eating disorder recovery. The media could advertise with real women of all sizes without the use of photoshop, which would change the standard of beauty from that of one style, which is unattainable, to a standard that is more accepting of the everyday woman. This transition could help improve the body image of those who religiously look at advertisements. It could also help raise awareness for eating disorders and broaden the availability of treatment to those who need it. 

The current effective method of treatment for an eating disorders is very expensive and requires patients to live in a center away from home for extended periods of time. Tara Parker-Pope, a writer for the wellness section of The New York Times, estimated that the cost of staying at an eating disorder centers is, " ... $30,000 a month on average" (Parker-Pope). A study from the College of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom also found that the average length of stay at an eating disorder center is 141.4 days for adolescence and 113 days for adults (Morris 45). That would mean that the average patient with an eating disorder would have to pay around $100,000 or more for treatment in a center. Treatment centers also may not be close to those who need it, so their family would need to relocate if they were to be there for their family member suffering with the eating disorder. The cost, the time scale, and the location of these treatment centers can be too much for many people suffering with an eating disorder. 

The media can, and has done some good in the help of treating eating disorders. One of the best ways the media has advocated for treatment is through the availability of eating disorder treatment. The media can be available to those who wish to undergo self-treatment for their eating disorder. A good way to go about this is through an application available on most smart phones. A study by Drexel University's Department of Psychology found that there are several smart phone apps, and the benefits of them include widespread access to the apps as well as treatment at the patient's own pace. The authors also compared the different eating disorders on the market and found that the most comprehensive app for the treatment of eating disorders is an app called 'Recovery Record' (Juarascio). Jessica Hudgens also compared the different apps available for eating disorder recovery. Hudgens is recovering from anorexia nervosa, so she is able to give an informed opinion as to whether or not the apps would be beneficial in self-recovery. She acknowledges the apps that have worked for her (which includes 'Recovery Record') and mentions that they are usually free compared to the very expensive other treatment methods to eating disorders (Hudgens). 'Recovery Record' allows patients to log what they eat, weight gains or losses, diary entries about how they feel, and the ability to connect to a psychologist. More apps can be made similar to 'Recovery Record' if the media advocates for positive body image and the treatment of eating disorders. 

Another way the media could change to help treat eating disorders is to have positive, anti- eating disorder communities on social media. According to the study called, "Do you 'like my photo? Facebook use maintains eating disorder risk" in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, it was found that college aged women who used Facebook were more apt to develop eating disorders. This is because Facebook encourages the idea of self comparison. The study states, "Now, women have a constant and active space to engage in social comparison with peers who may simultaneously portray and reinforce the thin ideal" (Mabe 520). Another study titled, "Facebook Is Linked to Body Dissatisfaction: Comparing Users and Non-Users", was conducted by Samantha Stronge, Lara M. Greaves, Petar Milojev, Tim West-Newman, Fiona Kate Barlow, and Chris G. Sable. They found, "Focusing on cross-sectional data collected in 2012, our results showed that for both men and women, Facebook users reported significantly lower body satisfaction than non-users" (Stronge). Social media is a huge trigger for eating disorders because people use it to compare themselves to others around them. If social media were used as a positive outlet, there could be communities and groups created on sites such as Facebook that could help those struggling with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. 

The mass media also has a huge influence in the technology industry. If the media were to support the treatment of eating disorders, while influencing the tech industry, certain technologies that have been created that would help the diagnoses and treatment of eating disorders could become more widely available. For example, there is a "Smart Dining Table" that is paired with a Samsung SUR40, which is a table-top computer. That computer is then linked to an armband worn by the person eating. The Kinect armband can view and track movements made by the person wearing it (Manton). This can allow allow someone to see how much the person is eating. Technology like this is currently not able to be distributed in common households and only exists in labs. However, if the mass media was pushing for eating disorder treatments, technology like this could be developed for the home in order to track meal consumptions, which could be used to treat eating disorders.

Media encompasses so much of our modern day society.  If it were to adopt a new standard for how the female body is advertised in magazines, on television, and online, it would be so beneficial to the way women see the standard of beauty and themselves. If the use of photoshopped images were eliminated from advertisements, triggers for those predisposed for eating disorders would decrease. And if the media were to go a step further and support body satisfaction and eating disorder recovery, methods of self-treatment for eating disorders could become more prevalent and widely accessed. This would allow more people to access treatment because the financial and time restrictions of current treatment methods would be less of a burden. It would also cause a push to create new technologies that could be widely distributed in order to help in self-treatment of eating disorders. The way media uses photoshop and represents beauty is leading to detrimental problems in mental health. Anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder are all results to a controlling mass media, which objectifies and alters the female body. The elimination of photoshop and the encouragement of self-treatment apps and social media communities will reduce the number of eating disorders triggered. 

