Research Paper: Reality TV and its influence on the younger generation
I. Introduction
A. Media has a huge impact on how people truly see themselves, particularly in women and young female teens. Reality television has made the standards of beauty quite high these days and there is a definite change in society’s view on what is truly beautiful. Turning off the TV has simply become too hard when it comes to reality TV shows 1. Turning into their favorite movie star is becoming more normal than ever. Skipping meals to look like the girl on the cover of the magazine keeps many people wandering what other lengths girls will go to to look like someone else. 2. These reality TV shows are gruesome and harmful to one when they say, "Reality television is a relatively new fad in America that is sweeping the networks’ ratings and redefining programming altogether. Viewers cannot seem to get enough of the torture, embarrassment, temptation, and above all, drama of other regular, everyday people being placed in unrealistic settings and manipulated for the world to see"(Pontius). Leaving an everlasting affect, these shows do a lot of damage.
B. Children consider makeup a necessity at a younger age. Reality TV has caused an obsession that is unavoidable. It is a crude form of entertainment, but so many people watch it and it becomes hard to turn it off. But why are people so interested? Somebody else’s lives and somebody else’s problems. 1. Women fighting over ‘their man’ 2. People trying to survive in the dessert 3. People suffering from drug addictions
C. But they give off the wrong message to young girls. Though some TV programs support healthy lifestyle choices, viewers do not realize that these shows can easily damage one’s self-esteem and body image. The female audience needs to recognize the false reality of television and realize that the women on reality TV are in fact, nothing close to real. 1. Reality TV is