Reality TV Promotes Entitlement And Materialism In Young Adults

In the article “A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much”, by Catherine Rampell, the author analyzes and challenges the popular stigma that Millennials are the laziest generation to have ever existed. Rampell begins her article with a staggering fact: “The unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds is a whopping 17.6 percent” (Rampell 388). And according to seventy-five percent of Americans, “Today’s youth are less virtuous and industrious than their elders” (Rampell 388). This may seem like an incredibly high percentage of Americans, but you might be astonished to learn that even “Two-thirds of millennials said older adults were superior to the younger generation when it came

Reality Television is a relatively new phenomenon that has exploded over the last several years. Whether it has to do with an “extreme makeover” or finding the supposed love of your life, reality television has given us the opportunity to become voyeurs in others’ lives. Approximately, 50% of television audiences are watching reality shows (Webster University). Long gone are the days of whole television programs. Today, most reality shows depict women as an object, only defined and valued by their sexuality. What kind of message is this sending to young girls? The purpose of this study is to show that reality television can have a negative effect on teenage girls. This matters because it can lead to the sexualization of young girls.

Reality television is not just television. It is a form of entertainment that for the most part has no informative aspect to it. It does however offer it’s viewers a chance to escape from reality and real problems for just a brief period. The popularity of reality television all over the world has made reality TV a major player when it comes to real life drama, social conflicts, how to, and competitions. Reality television brings the experiences of the actors into the living rooms of the viewers and allows them to relate the experiences they are seeing on the television to their actual lives and experiences. Reality Television has helped to change culture and society by allowing the viewers to interact and accept the behaviors of the people they are watching and allows the viewers to

Young minds can be easily persuaded by celebrities they admire, so it's no disbelief a director would select these influential people to get teenagers to watch their show. With these celebrities, directors believe their ratings will go up and more people would be inspired to be like them. Reality TV mainly effects teenagers because they're easily manipulated and swayed that beauty, sex appeal, and verbal aggression is tolerable.

The Real Housewives series along with discouraging education and encouraging marrying rich also instills a sense of materialism into you girls. By watching these women in their mid-late forties and beyond live outlandish, material bases lifestyles, it motivates young girls to strive for this lifestyle. The show also glorifies the divorce process. With the majority of the women on the show being divorced, it makes young women think that even then they can still be “successful” without having to work to attain it. These women, even after their divorces still live very comfortable lifestyles. The message this sends to young girls is problematic because they believe that their success is then measured by the man whom they marry, not by the merit of their own educational and occupational accomplishments.

Today while watching a movie or television show on cable, there were four to five minute breaks of commercials. Most of these commercials consisted of new reality shows. If they were not new, then it was the dates for when they old shows would make a comeback and start another season. Reality television has been in our lives since the 1940s. Although, the shows that were on years ago were much less vulgar than they seem to be now. It appears reality television continues to go down the wrong road. It is seen in many popular reality shows where the characters are almost getting praised for the bad behavior that they show on camera. This is important to know because it is has become a very popular thing for many people to watch, especially young teens. This gives the people in the shows the opportunity to be a role model for teens who might be looking elsewhere other than parents or peers for someone to look up to. It has also been shown that more teens would be interested in signing up to be on a reality show for the chance to gain fame by just about living their life. Reality television has done more harm than good to our society. For the most part, the shows today are showing more things that effects our teens in a more negative way. This left me with the question on does reality television really affect us? There are positives and negative effects on its viewers as well as the effect is has had on the culture of today’s society.

As he assures, “I am about to do what old people have done throughout history: call those younger than me lazy, entitled, selfish and shallow” (Stein 28). By using words with such negative connotation, Joel Stein diminishes his focal point of explaining the ways millennials are helping society. Their laziness, among other negative traits, is passionately justified rather than balanced with his optimistic

Reality TV burst onto the television scene in the early 2000s’s. Shows such as, The Bachelor, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and American Idol are just a few of the hundreds of reality TV shows that are capturing the hearts of Americans on a weekly basis. The effects go unnoticed by the viewers, but as these shows are watched, they begin to take over the personality of the audience and are changing the way people perceive the world today.

What once started as every day, regular people appearing on television shows have now morphed into celebrities and want to be celebrities competing for attention and doing almost anything to receive it on primetime television. The genre of television, which was once jumpstarted by the appeal of relatable people, who could be the viewers’ next door neighbors, being featured has since disappeared and been replaced by a monstrosity that does not accurately portray reality and often stereotypes people (Huff). One specific group that has been targeted by what reality television has morphed into is women. The new version of reality television is specifically adequate at encouraging gender culture, the set of behaviors or practices associated with masculinity and femininity (Huff). Reality television enforces gender roles and negatively impacts feminism in today’s society. Reality television sexualizes women, portrays them as dependent on and less superior to men, and exemplifies them as dramatic, catty, and often only as homemakers. The portrayal and stereotyping of women on reality television is demoralizing and can be described as “the contemporary backlash against feminism” (“Reality TV”). These false and demeaning stereotypes are prevailed in all types of reality television shows, making their impact extensive, considering Americans spend one-third of their spare time watching television and of that time sixty-seven percent is spent watching reality television (“Reality

Watching reality TV shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians where reality TV stars become famous by just living a luxurious life, teens or even adults might be encouraged that anyone can be famous by going on TV status and just “being themselves”, without any efforts or special talents. As John Humphrys points out, 'we tell kids what matters is being a celebrity and we wonder why some behave the way they do. This can build their desire of fame and to pursue celebrity status while ignoring the importance of education. Hence, reality TV discourages the value of hard work and education (IDEA,

The article I found on the website http://www.marketingteacher.com/the-six-living-generations-in-america/) states, “Millennials were raised in a digital environment and prefer to retrieve most of their information from the internet.” I am a member of Generation Y, and I agree with this statement. My generation likes to receive information in real time. I believe that there lies some truth in all stereotypes. My generation has a totally different mindset than our parents did. My parents are Baby Boomers and they placed heavy emphasis on education and working a job for thirty years. In today’s society, that way of thinking is not the best formula for success because the world has changed. My grandparents were from the GI/Mature

Some common values perpetuated by reality TV includes materialism, and idealization of hard partying and a celebrity lifestyle without any regard for the consequences that may follow. Shows such as the Rich Kids of Beverly Hills and Shahs of Sunset feature the lives of young adults of wealth and privilege who live in southern California. The series depicts the extravagant trips they take, designer clothes they wear and the money spent on extreme alcohol parties and they are never shown working any regular jobs. Another example of cultural influence is the Jersey Shore where the cast is filmed the entire summer binge drinking, participating in risky sexual behavior and getting into fights and being arrested. Despite all of the bad behavior

1. Most girls will do whatever it takes to be skinny and look like the stars that weigh 100 pounds "...the media influence on the cultural phenomenon of dieting and the perfect body. “Commercials and reality TV shows make you feel bad about yourself so you buy into the fad," Cohn said. The diet industry earns $50 billion each year on diet pills, and $8.4 billion is spent every year on cosmetic surgery. Women -- and men, Cohn stressed -- want to be thin, because large men and women are ridiculed" (Demmel). Eating disorders continues to be problem among young girls because of their role models. Girls on reality TV shows have that 'perfect' body and girls what to be everything like them.

Across the nation, people are talking about the Millennial generation and how different they are compared to others, but are they really that different? Millennials are lazy, entitled, and selfish, or as you may have heard may be essential to the modern workplace, either way, they are being talked about whether it is good or bad. To put it in other words, past generations are concerned for what the future will look like with this technology-dependent generation, but is that a bad thing if the technology is only going to advance from here on out? The older generation is being too harsh or are they just genuinely concerned about the future? Joel Stein (2013) has written an article about the Millennials, it is titled Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation he argues for them being a selfish generation but by saying that it is not a bad thing. The second article is by Liz Zarka (2017) Generation Me: The Millennial Generation’s obsession with being unique, she argues that they are the generation that needs to be concerned for. After reading both of these articles I agree with some of the points that both of these authors make, however, there are also some sections that I disagree with. My perception of the situation is that millennials may have all these negative characteristics but use them to an advantage that no other generation can has; along with the advancement of technology and the use of social media may have increased the narcissistic trait in them, but they use these traits to get what they want, however, being narcissistic isn’t always good there can certainly be some disadvantages.

There is no doubt that when it comes to American youth television is one of the biggest influences by far. Many parents would love to say that their child does not watch that much TV but in reality they are spending a lot of time watching television or using media in some way. “The study by the Kaiser Family foundation shows that children ages 2-8 spend an average of 5 ½ hours a day “consuming media” kids 8 and older spend even more time in front of the tube nearly 6 ¾ hours a day” (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005 ). Astonishingly, more time is being spent with media then doing homework, studying or even spending time with family. A child’s retention of what