The value that society places on youth and beauty is truly astonishing. I know I am not the first to recognize this, however I truly understood the effects that the media and society had on this on my recent holiday to Prague.

Saturday in the Old Town Square in Prague, my sister and I plead with my mother to come for cocktails in front of the astronomical clock. She declined the offer, claiming that the city is “ours”, and that she feels that her age casts her as an outsider. She did not feel part of Prague.

Day to day we are indoctrinated by newspapers and other forms of media into believing that success is for the young, and that we should all aim to look as youthful for as long as possible. The media creates a world where success is only obtainable through youth and beauty. When you grow if you do not try and make yourself look like their utopian image of a person then you are made to feel a failure. If we are not young then we should do everything in our power to make ourselves look young; Constantly faced with adverts for anti-wrinkle creams, and hair dyes to mask the signs of old age. Why is so much importance placed on being young? We were all adolescences once. It is not a rare and sort after quality only available to a select few. It is a process of life.

Being young is associated with energy and travel and fresh experiences, but who is to say that it is only available to those in that age category. We should be free to travel, and dye our hair pink, or get drunk and dance on tables, irregardless of our age, without facing any judgement from others or from ourselves. For someone to be made to feel that they can’t explore and enjoy new cultures and experiences due to something as meagre as their age is contemptible. Life is life, and the importance and pressure placed on beauty and youth just ruins what we are and who we are trying to be.