Summer is almost here as area schools begin letting out. To kick things off, we're launching a new season of WYSO Youth Radio. We’ll hear stories from students across Dayton, Springfield, and beyond.
Teenagers want their voices heard, especially about issues that they see in their communities. A teen-led group called BATS, or Bringing Awareness to Students, in Clark County, visited WYSO in February to create public service announcements (PSAs). Today, we will hear from BATS members Anaiah Westmoreland and Armani Montgomery. First, we'll listen to Anaiah's PSA, and then we'll hear them discuss social media and self-comparison.
WYSO Youth Radio is produced for the ear and designed to be heard, not read. We strongly encourage you to listen to the audio by clicking on the blue "LISTEN" button above, which includes emotion and emphasis not on the page.
She gazes in the mirror and pictures who she wants to be as she stares down at the girl posed in the magazine. Who she is is not who she wants to be. But the woman she wanted to be was also wishing she had a different body. But little did both these girls know, the whole world was going through the same low. I don't know about you, but I have struggled with comparing myself to others. Did you know that 93% of people compare themselves on social media? Did you also know that 600 million people use filters on social media? Just remember this: you are perfect. I am perfect. We are all perfect the way we are.Anaiah Westmoreland
Armani Montgomery: What inspired you to do this PSA?
Anaiah Westmoreland: I was inspired to do the PSA based on my own experiences about struggling with self-comparison and comparing myself to others based on insecurities about my body and the way I look.
Just comparing myself with people on social media. And how they look so skinny, comparing myself to people at school, like just things about my appearance that I wish looked like others.
Have you experienced issues with self-confidence?
Montgomery: Yes, I have. I definitely... I feel like I used to compare myself to people on social media and girls that may pop up on TikTok or Instagram, and I definitely did about my weight and how small I am. I feel like I should have been bigger, but now I'm more confident in myself.
Westmoreland: What runs through my mind when I see a woman and I feel like 'man I wish I could look like her,' I think it would probably be like the way her eyes are shaped or the way her smile looks pretty or how skinny she is so I think what runs through my mind is I wish I could be that way.
Montgomery: I definitely agree on like a pretty smile, and I wish my nose or my eyes were like that. But I feel like I'm most insecure about my smile. That's what I would say.
I would definitely see girls with nice, pretty, straight teeth. They just smile all the time and look so pretty when they smile.
Westmoreland: The First moment I saw you and you walked in the door, I thought you were extremely beautiful.
Montgomery: Thank you. You're pretty, and I like how you did your hair and your outfit. It just all looks so cute, and you're pretty. You're very pretty.
Westmoreland: Thank you.
My PSA is really about 'you're perfect the way you are,' because I feel like that message does not get out often, but it really is true because I look at everybody and regardless of what I've struggled through comparing myself to others, I really do see beauty in everybody and perfection in everyone.
Special thanks to Beth Dixon from WellSpring and Cuyahoga County poet laureate Honey Bell-Bey for working with us on this project. WYSO Youth Radio is produced at the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices at WYSO. WYSO Youth Radio is made possible by supporters like you, the Ohio Arts Council, and the Virginia W. Kettering Foundation.
