Who do you consider to be your role model? Role models are defined as “A person whose behavior, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people.” Chances are your role model is someone in your family like a brother or sister. It can even be your parents or a friend. But for most people their role models are celebrities. But having a celebrity as your role model is not necessarily a good thing.

It’s obvious that kids need good role models in their lives. Children are especially known for being impressionable. We surround children with celebrities on social media like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. This is a problem as most celebrities aren’t the greatest examples for behavior. It’s known that they make trouble for shock value. As the saying goes, “Any press is good press”. This is shown by Miley Cyrus twerking, promoting drugs, and sticking her tongue out for attention. Others believe they are “above the law” because they are celebrities. For example, Justin Bieber, according to Huffington Post, has gotten away with assault after he smacked a limo driver multiple times and was caught drag racing but he is not facing any jail time.

It seems as if I’m not the only one who thinks that they aren’t the best of examples. I asked research psychologist Joanna Broder Sumerson what she thought about some of the celebrities we have today. She said “Not all celebrities are created equal. The talented ones are great examples of how hard work and perseverance can make their dreams come true. The others are examples of how luck is temporary. Regardless of how they got there, there is a lack of emotional and social intelligence in that they do not understand how their impulsive behavior impacts the public.” I asked Bernard Luskin, another psychologist, the same question and he said “Some are good. Some are not mature and show signs of arrested development. For example Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber are very musically talented. However, there is a difference in maturity.”

On the other hand, it seems like children disagree. When I asked Reem “Rudolph” Abdulrazek how she feels about kids her age having celebrity role models she said, “They can’t because I’m like still 12, they’re still kids but I’m a mature 12 year old.” Zeinab Hamka also disagrees with me and thinks they can have a positive effect on children. When I asked her “Do you think your role model is a good role model in the way he/she acts?” She said, about Jacob Sagittarius, “I think so yeah. His first vine video was about bullying and it had millions of revines.” Adam Said also disagrees with me and thinks it’s the children’s responsibility to find the right role models. “They need to stop focusing on the negative influences and start paying attention to the positive’s.”
Through America’s history we have had hundreds of celebrities. Today, we have both examples of good role models and bad role models. Everyday we hear new things like celebrities like Chris Brown getting in trouble for drugs, Olympic players getting into trouble at the 2016 games, and many more. But we also have good examples like Katy Perry, Jennifer Lawrence, and others. I think it’s up to both us and our celebrities to try and give our children good examples. Celebrities need to stop trying for shock value and do better when it comes to the law and we as the consumers need to promote the better examples and teach our children the difference between a good role model and a bad role model.

Amira Said

Middle School Journalist