5 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT STAN KPOP:

Although K-pop generally means South Korean pop music, it is considered to be an all-encompassing genre which exhibits a wide spectrum of musical and visual elements. K-pop first became popular in the early 2000s but it was in 2020, that K-pop truly experienced a record-breaking year when it experienced a 44.8% growth and positioned itself as the fastest-growing major market of the year. From BTS, Black-Pink, twice, NCT, Exo to TxT and so many other KPOP groups, fans all over the world, follow and Stan them .( Before I write anything further, I would like to remind you people that these are my personal opinions and they are in no way facts.) As a KPOP fan myself I would like to point out some of the negative effects that it has on teenagers and adults, especially those that follow them.

 Following are the reasons you should not follow or idealize KPOP:

 1)    Beauty standards:

Because of the strict beauty standards of KPOP industry, their fans and followers also start to adopt their way of life and thinking, comparing themselves to their idols, they start to believe that they are not beautiful enough or skinny enough. In Korea, companies expect the idols to undergo plastic surgery to look better.  K-pop is one of the most important driving forces of the growth of teen plastic surgery in Asia. The reason behind this trend is that K-Pop idols tend to change how teens define themselves. An important characteristic of every teenager’s maturation is self-definition. For teens, that image is influenced to a large extent by personal choices of their idols and not only KPOP but other media industry. 

2)    Addiction:

Although music helps us to relax and meditate, listening it for a long period of time leads to several health issues. Those people who spend too much time watching music videos and searching information about K-pop, they usually suffer from asthenia as a result of sleeplessness and skipping meals. Some K-pop fans spend precious amount of time on their cell phones which can lead to eye disease or in extreme cases memory loss. Spending too much on electronic devices also has been associated with depression, delinquency and smoking. On top of that, it can cause a greater tendency to engage in reckless behavior than their peers who are not K-pop or K-Dramas fans. Some of the fans of K-pop, for instance, tend to behave in an awkward way all the time and they keep babbling about their idols instead of communicating properly with real people  or sharing their own opinion causing lack of communication and social distancing which in turn causes mental health issues

3)    Laziness and less activity:

Some fans instead of going out and socializing with their friends and family, spend copious amount of time watching KPOP on mobile phones. They become so immersed in their idols life and music that they forget about the outside world.  Which in turn causes laziness and in extreme cases diseases such as asthenia as a result of sleeplessness and skipping meals. Spending large amount of time watching mobile or TV can have adverse effect on physical and mental health.

4)    Poor academic performance:

Heavy addiction to K-pop not only harms their mental and physical health, but also negatively affects their academic performance. Students cannot concentrate on their studies; rather their mind is always diverted to K-pop stuff. They are so obsessed that they don't pay attention to class; instead, they keep listening to music all the time. Instead of discussing studies or other positive issues, K-pop fans encourage other teens to watch K-pop. In other words, they continue to depart from their studies, which lead them to rare academic performances.

5)    Relationship between parents and children:

 KPOP addicts instead of socializing with their friends and family spend that precious time on internet stalking their idols and listening to their songs.  This inevitably leads to lack of communication between parents and children, causing misunderstandings and misconceptions to erupt. This completely destroys their relationship. Parents play a vital role in the growth of  their children they tell them the difference between right and wrong, they provide them with basic needs such as; food, shelter, clothes, means of entertainment and transport. And if there is no connection between them at all, that means that eventually that teenager will fall astray. Indirectly this affects our society. 

Conclusion: 

KPOP itself is not negative or bad. Some of the music that is being made also has some positive influence in the youngsters. It’s the addiction to it that is most concerning. Teenagers no matter how much we say that ’we know everything’, and that ‘we are grownups’, and ‘we know what is right for us’; well, the truth is that we don’t know, yes some of us are mature but maturity does not mean experience. We don’t know when to stop. And even when we do realize that, we are in too deep, and it’s too late. We become so addicted to these things that we don’t realize what’s really important. Let me put this out for you:  our main priority is our studies; second is our parents, our siblings, and our family; third is our friends. Do not forget, we are here today because of our parents, they provide us with our basic needs, and they give us love, look out for us. They don’t require that we give them money or become their servants.no! What they require from us is that we get good grades and show good result. And is that so bad? KPOP or any kind of music is there for our entertainment. Watch these things in your spare time, Do Not get addicted to them, it’s not them that provide you with basic needs and show you love, they don’t even know you. I myself admire BTS, I have been since they weren’t even that famous, and there was a time that I too was addicted, so I am telling you from experience.

So sum it all up; set your priorities, study hard, focus on your mental as well as physical health, show love and appreciation to your parents and siblings, spread love and positivity,  be with good company and last but not least DO NOT GET ADDICTED to anything, period. Life is too short for that, do not waste it.

Stay safe and drink lots of water!