'Our world is a paradise for plastics; a nightmare for the rest of us.'

Dear editor,

While scrolling through the seemingly endless list of channels on TV last night, I came across 'Love Island'. A program about a group of attractive bronzed gods and goddesses on an island with the intent of finding love. I have one word to describe the program:

Disgusting.

In the present day and age, young children are taught that if you want to be popular, you have to be pretty. This message is very negative and offputting to most girls because it puts them off revising or having fun. Instead, they are cooped up in their lonely room debating which eyeshadow look would get them the most likes. These girls idolise the bronzed goddesses they perceive the 'Love Island' cast to be so much that many young girls will go to tanning salons and look like a walking wotsit just to try to be more popular.

It's similar for boys as well. They watch 'Love Island' or other programmes along the same line of attractive people finding fame and fortune and begin to long to look like them. A study found that 36% of boys who work out don't do it for the health benefits. They work out to be 'beach body ready' or to resemble their raucous role models. These role models aren't beneficial to boys either. In the past, boys idolised famous footballers or scientists, wanted to be the one who discovered a new planet or scored the winning goal. Now, look at them. Shirts off, filters on, face tuning out the blemishes and photoshopping in the six-pack. Boys are looking up to heartbreakers, drunkards and sex addicts. This is NOT good.

Instead, boys and girls should be idolising the people who do good. A study found that nurses who work unpaid overtime drink Red Bull on the job to stay awake. These people are so devoted to making people (often the drunkards) healthy again that they will drink energy drinks so they don't fall asleep and continue to work instead. They are an inspiration to us all, not the braindead bimbos of reality shows who get drunk every night and end up in the hospital with liver failure. One of my cousins works in a special needs home for children. He is far from the pinnacles of prettiness on TV but his work is spectacular. He looks like a dropped pie but he's a good bloke.

I believe that we can make a change for the better. We don't want a society of plastic braindead robots, but social media and TV seem to advertise these men and women the most. We need authors, scientists, journalists and mathematicians who have the willpower to improve the world and set us back on track. For a closing statement, I propose this: Do you want a society of tanned deities, or a society of people ready to change the world?

~~ Marks ~~

Content & Organisation: 19/24

Technical Accuracy: 15/16

Total Marks: 34/40