how is

How is Reality TV Shows Influence Us?
Reality TV shows have been capturing people’s attention since the late 20th century, it refers to television programs in which ordinary people are continuously filmed, designed to be entertaining rather than informative. (Oxford) reality shows getting more and more popular because of people get to experience things that they cannot or have not experienced in their lives, they also try to figure out what they would do in the situations that the characters are in.( Robert reid) Those shows have both positive and negative impact on viewers. People found that reality TV show are inspiring, encouraging and entertaining; on the other hand, it also generate some negative effects that they may not notice while they are watching, such as misleading, promoting immoral behavior and produce unreal expectation. These entertainments are more harmful than people expected.
Reality TV shows inspire viewers, for example, “The Apprentice”. It is a reality game show hosted by Donald Trump, a winner will receive a prize of a one-year, and twenty-five hundred thousand dollars starting contract to run one of Trump’s companies. The show plays a role in emphasizing resources for self-help and self0empowerment. Through the show, viewers may learn skills or thoughts that will benefit them in the real world problem.

In addition, Reality shows encouraging people to chase their dreams. There are a lot of talented people that is not yet be discovered, shows like “American Got Talent”, one of the largest grossing reality based show, they offer opportunity for people to show off their talent. Bianca Ryan, is an American singer and guitarist, she was the first winner of the talent show at the age of eleven. Bianca’s dream is to be a singer, Columbia Record, an American flagship record label, signed her right after she won the victory. Now her dream may be came true earlier than she expected because of this talent show. It inspires people into follow their dream or achieves goals that they set for themselves.
The benefit of Reality shows is mostly the entertainment of the viewers; they enjoy how people handle things and how they react in different situation, watching people in unusual setting, doing things they never experienced before will bring them pleasure, as well as pure escapism. If viewers have a rough day with things that stress them, they can forget troubles by watching reality TV. Moreover, reality shows also helps people, “Random 1” would be particularly a good example, they really helping people that is needed help most.( McCarthy)
There are many different issues with reality TV shows. Distort reality would be one of them. Though reality shows are unscripted, it is manipulated, Reality TV shows is not real when most of it has been cut out. Nearly all reality TV shows are scripted; the producers and director can tell the reality TV participant what to say, where to go and who to see. The editor can corrupt the editing and twist things to make things seem like there is conflict and disagreement. In addition, Producers only air the scenes that are conforming to viewers’ expectation. Inevitably, it will mislead the viewers in some way. When people watch reality TV, they tend to think that what they are seeing is a true depiction of reality. Because of that, they tend to believe that what they see on TV is how life really. An example would be “The Hills”, a reality show focused on the personal and professional lives of several young women residing in Los Angeles. “The Hills” has great negative influenced on teenagers. Karyn Riddle and J.J.De Simone from the University of Wisconsin surveyed 145 undergraduates and they found out “Viewers on programs like ‘The Hill’ believe women in the real world engage in bad behaviors more often than men”.
Some reality TV shows promote immoral and unethical behavior. The shows are concerned with ratings, the producers of a reality show are not looking out for the morality. In resulted, some immoral behavior may be allowed in the show, “Jersey Shore” would be a good example of this kind. In order to get better rating, character inside the shows were fight more often, cheat on others, or getting plastic surgery. Viewers may think those behavior is acceptable and tend to pick up those acts.
The reality TV shows also produce unreal expectation. Obesity brought up by Carolyn Vander Schee and Kip Kline (2013), they use it to introduce the neoliberal stage of reality television. For example, “The biggest loser,” it has the highest rating among those “lifestyle transformation” reality TV shows; it is based on a competition that follows the format of non-tournament elimination contest. This type of health-related shows was setting viewer up for disappointment or health risk. With participant losing as much as 30 pounds in a single week, The viewers may see the character’s success as their own success, what viewer did not see is that those participant are running the risk of heart problem, bone loss and electrolyte imbalances, also, they were under medical supervision and guided by professional trainer. If the viewers try to replicate what participant do, they may have serious health problems. Reality TV shows do not have only positive influence on us, it also has negative influence. Some of the shows help people in certain ways, some of them entertain people, as well as encouraging them to chase dreams; even though reality shows are profit motive, but it does give a good chance for many talented people. Unfortunately, the shows could be misleading, promote immoral behavior and produce unreal expectation.

Word cited
“Reality TV shows.” Def. 1. Oxford Dictionaries Online.
Robert reid: why does reality tv appeal to us?

McCarthy, Anna. “Reality Television: A Neoliberal Theater of Suffering.” Social Text 25.4 (2007): 17-41. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 June 2014.

Schee, Carolyn Vander, and Kline, Kip. “Neoliberal Exploitation in Reality Television: Youth, Heath and the Spectacle of Celebrity ‘Concern’.” Journal of Youth Studies 16:5 (2013): 565-78. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 June 2014.