How do map projections distort the earth's surface?

For example, the Mercator projection preserves the shape and area of smaller objects on earth's surface, but it distorts things near the poles, making Greenland bigger than South America and stretching Antarctica across the entire bottom of the world. The Peters projection distorts shape but makes size of different landmasses better in comparison to each other.

Idon't bro i wish i could i'm so sorry