The Negative Effects Of Reality Television

712 Words2 Pages

It can be said that reality television offers a superficial reality, which takes away from the cultural values of society. However, to what extent is this statement a fact or an exaggeration? One could say that reality television offers a glimpse of what life looks like for people of power, royalty or wealth. This provides a daily view of what it may look like to live like these people. Thus, this glimpse is aimed to strictly entertain and not deceive. On the other hand, most of these lives do not offer a real sense of a “normal” life. More often than not they offer a false sense of reality that relies on wealth and high status within society. Therefore, do television shows give people the wrong idea of what society should look like? As a parent …show more content…

Therefore, these bombardments of false realities pose a threat to our cultural values. Since these shows only portray individuals of power, wealth and royalty people assume this is what is expected of them. This creates a negative image of the expected cultural values. They begin to idolize the decisions that the celebrities make and consider them justified. The negative impacts of the shows can be seen as people have begun to mimic the celebrities within the shows. Thus, these shows aim to sell this unpractical lifestyle as desirable. Additionally, the name “Reality Television” demonstrates how this form of media tries to sell what “reality” looks like. However, the lifestyles portrayed in the shows are typically as far away from reality as possible. A typical American reality would be one that portrays an educated person that has a daily job and potentially a family to surround them. Therefore, these shows in no way represent the “American reality” and thus have a negative impact on …show more content…

Thus, the people who tend to watch these shows cannot help but follow their lifestyle choices. As a father of a young girl I would never want my daughter to watch a show such as “Keeping Up With the Kardashian’s”. In the “Kardashian Show” the females rarely work and place a great emphasis on beauty, partying and wealth. Just based on the name it tells any viewer that this is the expected lifestyle and they need to “keep up”. This could have severe impacts on a young girl who thinks this lifestyle is normal. Consequently, an impressionable girl might think it is acceptable not to work and live a life a partying. This is just a glimpse of the harsh realities of what these shows offer people

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