The world is becoming more superficial, with television and magazines constantly bombarding people with images of the beautiful people and fabulous things that they need to buy, there is no escape. Everything is becoming about the image, style has almost totally eradicated substance and glitz and glamour have become the new norm.

There is no greater example of superficial living than the rise of reality television, and gone are the days when it was strictly limited to big brother. Now there are countless reality shows featuring the alleged daily lives of young, attractive and rich people. Two of the most popular shows of this kind are The only way is Essex and Jersey Shore. They feature no intellectual content, no thought-provoking dramas, no brain-busting mysteries. They simply feature young, beautiful people having fights over everything and showing themselves up. It is all about the drama.

And it doesn’t end with simply putting people in front of a camera and letting them get on with it, sometimes there is a presenter. The Jeremy Kyle show is one of the most popular T.V programmes in the United Kingdom and is becoming increasingly popular in the United States. In it, Mr Kyle has his guests lined up before him so that they can tell him their most intimate details and he can shout at them until they are resolved.

The superficial nature of today’s society is also having a negative effect on our children with more and more adult style clothes being made for younger children. Studies have shown that high street stores stock clothes such as high heels and thongs for children as young as eight. And the stores argue that because of the demand due to advertising that they have to stock them. The superficiality of today is largely responsible for the appalling sexualisation of our children.

It is also making children and teenagers unhappy with their appearance; being constantly shown images of perfect looking models in magazines is causing children to wonder why they do not look like that. One in five children aged ten to fifteen said they were unhappy with the way they looked according to a recent survey. It is promoting an unhealthy body image which can lead to problems such as anorexia and bulimia.

The superficial way with which some people live their lives is not only bad for them, it is bad for everyone around them.