According to an article in Palm Beach Post, published in 1982, sixth graders watched four or more hours a day of television. In ten days those children are putting in more hours than required of most full-time jobs. One can question what effect this would be on our children. People have stated the government should be in control of censoring media to children, but is that a government’s problem or a parents?
In George Gerbners cultivation theory there is a correlation how people are adults today and what they had watched in the past. When studying the Gerbner theory, it shows that people whom watch more than 5 hours a television today get a skewed perception of how the world actually works and they tend to start believing as this is “reality.”
I did a survey on campus as to how many people watch "reality shows', I focused on Teen Mom and Jersey Shore, these are my results:
Teen Mom (I came to the conclusion this isn't as popular to college students as it is very popular with teenagers and tweens.):
Jersey Shore (This show i very popular with college students, though most call it stupid, they still watch it and use terms from it.):
When taking Gerbners Theory, this is what I have came to conclusion of:
Teen Mom
This show puts teen mothers in the lime light showing younger couples and single mothers, making their way through society, whether they have jobs, live at home with their parents, are still with the father of their children, if they are verbally or physically abused and all through their daily life. The situations that these teens put them in are not at all equivalent to reality of everyone. On the show a few mothers do not work, but they live in their own place or they live with their parents, makes you wonder who really supports them. This show appeals to teenagers and children that you as well can be pregnant and we can put you on this television show and you will become famous. Teenagers all over America are getting pregnant over the stupidest reasons. See below:
Jersey Shore
Jersey Shore is a show based off random people being selected to be roommates who move into a home for the summer on Jersey shore. When they created this show, MTV didn’t think it would blow up like it has. We saw many Halloween costumes this year as people dressed up as one of the cast members. There was a lot of promiscuity going on during the show even with each other. This can influence young adults to want to engage in sexual activity because these people seem so cool and “real.” When there is a steady flow of alcohol inside the home the bad sides of people come out. The influences that this could have on a teen is that these people are having much fun, going out getting drunk and falling “in love” (maybe just for the night). There are many parodies of this show because the general show is simply overrated. See Youtube video below:
Teen Mom
With every teen mother on the show they have been on the cover of magazines, they meet celebrities and there is no core value of the show. The lessons of the show is more like, don’t have kids early, see the trials and tribulations that these young mothers/fathers go through on a daily bases. MTV does not provide young adults with the substance of enriching them to not have children early in life. Becoming a celebrity through a reality show seems to be more common now and people believe this to be true “reality”.
When I was doing my survey around campus, many people stated “this isn’t true reality television; it is mostly edited to appeal to the viewers," which is correct, the producers of the show wouldn’t put a relaxed teen with an amazing life that has an abundance of money and lived the fairy tale world.
Prevention should be taught and thee shows shold not be glamorized. Bristol Palin and Jaime Spears started this trend people believe but they all need to understand that this isn't reality and we as people need to teach our teenagers about abstinance instead of them following in the footsteps of others.
Prevention should be taught and thee shows shold not be glamorized. Bristol Palin and Jaime Spears started this trend people believe but they all need to understand that this isn't reality and we as people need to teach our teenagers about abstinance instead of them following in the footsteps of others.
Jersey Shore
The images that this show portrays are that these people were selected to live in a house together and they have a fun summer. The message this show sends to younger viewers is to glamorize and be just like these adults. There are no role models on the show, they have all been in arguments, fist fights and other inappropriate things.
“People who are dumb are the ones who want to be like the people from Jersey Shore,” one of my peers stated.
This may be true, but we grew up knowing different types of shows which had morals and values instilled in them. When reality shows came into play, one would think this actual reality and not know any better. We have children who feel this is a sense of reality. America has gone digital and facebook is where people meet other people, what would teens do if they couldn't access the internet or use a phone, would it really be the end of the world?
Teen Mom
I am not to sure how teens can relate to these young parents, maybe the message is to actually show what is right and what is wrong and that abstinence will keep you out of this situation, but this could be further from what the message they are trying to send. Audiences of these shows are more likely to be younger teens and they start believing since this is “reality” this is what we should do and this is how we have to get from point “A” to point “B”, this glamorizes these teens, turning them into over night celebrities is a recipe for disaster in America. This life isn't as glamorus as MTV makes it.
Jersey Shore
Audiences may think this is reality and this is how it truly is in the “real world” but this could be further from correct. The messages this show sends a negative impact on young adults. I personally have a little sister who is 12 watches the Jersey Shore and thinks it is very “cool.” She even copies the way they dress sometimes. She argues with me about the show and has no background to how television shows were when I was growing up. It is equivalent to an infomercial. Companies invest in the shows, sponsoring it whether the “reality” stars like or dislike the item; they still have to show that item off. The power of persuading teenagers has gone in a negative manor young adults are already having intercourse with random people, drinking and partying at young ages.
We could ask ourselves how we actually feel about this young teens acting out in order to be just like these uncelebrated people whom are toxic to our youth. One should think a parent could control a television, but not every parent’s the same, nor does each think the same about what their children watches. Children are always telling each other on the playground naughty things and this will never stop. Maybe the FCC could step in and monitor them better but with the Internet being so broad, filtering out the negative life styles out would be difficult no matter how many security codes are on things. We just have to instill values and morals into our children, so they know the difference between right and wrong.
Bridalplasty
When doing my research, I talked to young college students about the show bridal plasty and I got a few shocking results when I asked if they would watch it:
"Hell no, doesn't tht take the reasoning out of being married? Why would you want to change the person you wanted to be with in the first place?"
"I love watching train wrecks, this sounds like a good one!"
"I would watch this if I at home, sick and nothing else was on."
Here is my data that I received:
Yes 3
Maybe 1
No 13
This show is taking away womens dignity, just like we saw in class Dreamworld, we as women more and more are being perceived as objects instead of humans. We are not here to be just like barbie, we are ment to be different from one another.
