Marianna Vitale

Period 7

What Is Reality TV?

• Reality TV shows are unscripted and candid

• People in reality television shows are not actors and they are not paid to portray a certain character

Popularity of Reality TV• Reality TV became

popular in the late 90’s and early 2000’s with shows like The Real World and American Idol

• 40 Percent of prime time television shows are classified as reality shows (Barnhart)

Negative Effects of Reality Television

• Shows like MTV’s 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom, glamorize teenage pregnancy.

• Teenage girls believe that if they become pregnant, they will get famous with their own TV show.

• Amber Portland, star of MTV’s Teen Mom, makes about $280,000 per year between her MTV salary, endorsement deals, interviews, and other fame related events. (Dr. Phil)

Negative Effects of Reality Television

• Jersey Shore, another product of MTV, constantly promotes indoor tanning.

• Since the show aired, there has been a 22% increase in the popularity of tanning salons

The Interview

My mom works in a local NYC high school. She deals with teenagers who watch reality TV everyday. She believes reality TV influences the students in her school.

Me: Who do you think is more influenced by reality TV, boys or girls?Mom: Definitely the girls. Reality TV shows like Real Housewives and Keeping Up With The Kardashians constantly glamourize plastic surgery & endorse it. They feed off of young girls self esteem issues. Girls constantly complain about their hair, body, and anything else they think is wrong with them. I’ve seen girls as young as 15 go through plastic surgeries, wanting to look perfect.

Me: Do you think reality TV relates to how your students act towards each other and the staff?Mom: Definitely. Reality TV shows that feature physical fights between the stars have a lot to do with the physical fights between students. I personally believe that if a teenager sees it happening on TV, with no consequences for their actions, then they believe it’s okay.

The Interview

My mom works in a local NYC high school. She deals with teenagers who watch reality TV everyday. She believes reality TV influences the students in her school.

Me: Who do you think is more influenced by reality TV, boys or girls?Mom: Definitely the girls. Reality TV shows like Real Housewives and Keeping Up With The Kardashians constantly glamourize plastic surgery & endorse it. They feed off of young girls self esteem issues. Girls constantly complain about their hair, body, and anything else they think is wrong with them. I’ve seen girls as young as 15 go through plastic surgeries, wanting to look perfect.

Me: Do you think reality TV relates to how your students act towards each other and the staff?Mom: Definitely. Reality TV shows that feature physical fights between the stars have a lot to do with the physical fights between students. I personally believe that if a teenager sees it happening on TV, with no consequences for their actions, then they believe it’s okay.

The Interview (Continued)

Me: Do you watch reality TV?Mom: I do, but I’m more into the competition shows like Survivor and American Idol. The drama of Real Housewives of New Jersey is good once in a while, but it gets old very quickly.

Me: Do you think parents should monitor what their kids watch?Mom: In a perfect world, sure. But it’s not very realistic. Between laptops that stream netflix, youtube, TV’s in every room and the 100+ channels to choose from, it’s not very likely that you can control everything your child watches. With that being said, parents should be kept up to speed with what shows are popular and maybe look into it so they can talk to their children about it & guide them in the right direction. If someone doesn’t tell a child or a teenager what’s appropriate and what isn’t, then a child would think everything they watch is appropriate behavior because no one told them no. Parents should have open communication with their children.

Reality View Showers Have Lower Self-Esteem

• This article talks about how reality show watchers have low self esteem and are naurtoic

• http://cnsnews.com/blog/gregory-gwyn-williams-jr/reality-show-viewers-are-more-neurotic-have-lower-self-esteem-study

More Information

• Psychology Magazine

• Seventeen.com

Work Cited

• http://www.kansascity.com/2010/12/04/2497484/how-reality-tv-took-over-prime.html

• http://drphil.com/articles/article/684

• http://www.seventeen.com/fashion/blog/jersey-shore-tanning