Just how real is reality television? The saying "seeing is believing" absolutely does not pertain to this type of media. As we get older we start to realize this. But what about the children who are watching more and more television each day? Playing outside after school seems like a thing of the past. 71% of children ages 8- 18 have a television set in their room (University of Michigan Health System). Having a TV in their room makes it harder for parents to control what their children watch, especially during the night (11p.m. to 6a.m.) when producers can play what they please.
We already know television usage can lead to poor grades, less sleep, weight gain and bad behavior, but what about the effects of reality television? Reality television affects children because their perception of reality and fiction is not very clear. It is because of this that the cultivation theory comes into play yet again. They truly think seeing is believing. Take MTV's "The Hills" for example. Millions watched the show as if it were their religion just to be appalled by the surprise ending. At the end of the very last episode, the camera zooms out, showing the studio set. The show was a hoax. Perhaps it was only fake towards the end, but no one knows for sure.
It is because of this false reality that children believe people act like this in real life. I content analyzed an episode of the show "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills". The show portrayed people as being rich, skinny, and fashionable. They got the show because of all this which makes children believe they need money and top of the line things in order to be happy in life. During their trip to New York, Camille talks about how she isn't satisfied with her 3,000 square foot apartment there. She said she wishes to never actually live in that confined space. Children believe having a bigger home and more money is the proper way to live because of this.
There was also a lot of verbal and some physical violence. In the show one of the lady's said she isn't afraid to stand up for herself. I firmly believe children should know how to stand up for themselves but not about the dumb things these women fought about. One lady said no one would want to spend time with a different women when her husband isn't around. This sparked a fight between the two. Children should learn to pick and choose their battles. If someone told them they were not interesting enough to spend time with then don't talk to that person anymore, there's better people than that in the world. Children become desensitized to fights within the family and with friends from watching shows such as "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills".
What is even worse is that some of the fights on these shows are planned by producers to boost ratings. Time Magazine wrote an article in 2006 about the show "The Dating Experiment". The woman wanted to choose a different man for her date than what the producers wanted. She had to do what they said because she was under contract. The stars from the first season of "Laguna Beach" talked about how they had to fake fights and reinact the ones that the cameras missed. This does not make reality TV real.
Some of the women in "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" are over the age of 50. They call themselves 'mature' when they are really just the opposite. It is shows like this that are putting a false image of a false person their minds. The children in the show disrespect their parents and still get what they want. The parents are hardly around in some cases. This could be one reason for children misbehaving.
One of the lady's, Kyle, has a fear of planes. Her friend hired a hypnotists to help her get over her fear. From this, children can learn that the only way to handle their problems is through someone else.
The show itself has a lot of gossip in it, along with any other reality television show. This gossip leads to children talking bad about one another and thinking it's perfectly normal to do this.
Some people find it hard to believe that reality television has any effect at all on children. There are several studies and statistics proving there are effects on children. According to parentstv.org the show "Survivor" had 3.5 million viewer between the ages of 2 and 11 and reality TV makes up 17 percent of all programming. Two-thirds of all programming contains violence (University of Michigan) and a 17-year long study found that teenagers who grew up watching violent television shows are more likely to be violent themselves. Thin characters are portrayed in a positive manner and heavier ones in a negative manner. The statistics shown below prove that reality television is changing for the worse. It's no longer a glimpse into the lives of other people, it's becoming more and more scripted. Only 8 percent said it was changing for the better and 63 percent said it was changing for the worse.
But how does this directly effect children? It's simple. It's George Gerbner's cultivation theory at work. Children have a difficult time noticing the difference between reality and pretend and with reality television becoming more and more fake it's no wonder they believe people are supposed to act like that. Children see shows such as the "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" and think that's how a family and friends are supposed to act.
Nothing can be done about this situation. As long as the show is getting good rating and isn't doing anything the FCC dis approves of, it'll stay on the air. People just need to be more alert to the media around them. Children cannot help not knowing the difference. They see Mickey Mouse on television and then go see him at Disney World and think he really exists. Paying closer attention to what they watch will help though. They can live without a television in their rooms and having parental settings isn't a bad idea. Parents can't look over their children's shoulders at all times but taking small steps will help.
Here is a link to the episode of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" that I content analyzed:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/193430/the-real-housewives-of-beverly-hills-i-would-never-say-that#s-p1-so-i0
References
Boyse, Kayla. "Television and Children." University of Michigan Health System. Ed. Brad Bushman. N.p., Aug. 2010. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/tv.htm.
Cavallo, Alexandra. "MTV's Big "Hills" Fake-Out." The Boston Phoenix. N.p., 14 July 2010. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/phlog/archive/2010/07/14/mtv-s-big-quot-hills-quot-fake-out-reality-tv-isn-t-actually-real-global-community-in-state-of-shock.aspx.
Poniewozik, James. "How Reality TV Fakes It." Time. CNN, 29 Jan. 2006. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1154194,00.html.
"Reality TV sStatistics." Love to Know. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2010. <http://reality-tv.lovetoknow.com/Reality_TV_Statistics>.
