Reality television has expanded enormously over the course of 20 years. They are now shown on most popular networks such as "ABC Family", "MTV", "TBS" and many other major networks. But There have been many critisism over how reality television sends out negative messages to there viewers, especially teen-agers and or young viewers. Reality shows usually consists of either competitions between a group of people or just following the lives of a group of people. The viewers than start to believe that life is a competition and that following the new hip image is more important. Worst of all it has started to affect education in America. Timothy Sexton from "Buzzle.com" has written about just how dangerous reality tv has become and I totally agree with him in the sense that this type of programming has its cons.
Reality shows such as "Survivor" or "Who Wants To Marry a Multimillionaire" deliver a false message, that is that life is a competition that rewards you with lots of money at the end. The television networks taht promote these shows want the public to be engaged in there business. Businesses and major corporations are out to get the publics eye and encourage them to watch the shows because the better the ratings, the more money is receieved. In magazines I have seen and read how many people who want to participate in these reality shows, camp outside and try so hard to be chosen as a winner. Also known as a free ticket to luxury.
There is also the message that appearence is everything rather than the ability to be able to do something well. Shows like "American Idol" and the "Apprentice" are great examples of this negativity. It is known that producers on "American Idol" look for the better looking, rather talented contestant to win the competition. They have even gone to the extent of trying to completely change the appearence of the contestants as they progress through the reality show. Participants on "The Apprentice" enforce this thought even further. Usually the competition always comes down to the contestant who is better looking oppose to the one with the brains and "personality". This is a way for the television networks to make more money off the public by having the prettier face on the cover of there billboards.
Reality television goes as far as impactng the education of the young viewers. Reality shows usually say they pick random people to star in there show, which everntually leads to popularity and or being a celebrity of the casties. Because of this many young viewers believe they can one day get lucky and be picked up into stardom without having to lift a pen and a text book. The only expertise required in the field is to be able to humiliate yourself and do as told by producers. This is pretty much called the easy way out to money making careers rather than a hard working student trying to get thru and pay off loans from a 4 year college.
These are just some of the negative impacts that reality television has. It will only continue growing and growing with false inside messages coming out every season. Instead of "reality" tv they should rename is to "false" tv and then send out the same messages just to see how far they would actually go.
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