Spring break has ended. The hallway is flooded with people who are about three shades darker than I know them to be naturally. Everyone knows that the hottest place to go on spring break is Panama City Beach, so it’s reasonable why some people are tan. But lots of people I’ve talked to didn’t even leave our town. There’s only one explanation for this-

Tanning beds.

Going to tanning beds has been the trend for several years. However, despite having a tanning bed in my own house, I have never tanned, nor had the desire to. Lots of my friends get a little jealous of me because of this.

So, why is tanning such a huge thing??? Why does a difference in skin tone make people feel more attractive?

Maybe it’s the fact that some people believe it makes you look healthier, or that people look “sickly” when they’re pale. Some people think a tan makes you look younger, skinnier, etc.

Many of you know, though, tanning can have some very harmful effects, especially if you start doing it frequently at a young age. If you don’t already know, here are some statistics:

In the United States, indoor tanning is estimated to cause about 419,000 cases of skin cancer every year. For comparison, smoking is thought to cause about 226,000 cases of lung cancer every year.

According to the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, the following proportions of youth report indoor tanning —

Who’s Tanning?

• 13% of all high school students.
• 21% of high school girls.
• 32% of girls in the 12th grade.
• 29% of white high school girls.

Think about it- you always hear about the dangers of smoking and how lung cancer is a leading cause of death in the US.

Tanning beds have caused twice as many cases of life-threatening cancer as tobacco use.

I’ve always been the pale one of my friends, so maybe I’m a little partial, but in my opinion, I think pale skin is beautiful. As a matter of fact, I think all natural skin colors are beautiful, and we shouldn’t base beauty off skin tone.