The Effects Of Reality Television On Our Lives

As of today, television has become one of the most popular sources for entertainment over the world. In our generation, reality tv have one of the highest rates on television; But have you ever wonder what type of impact this has on our generation? In fact, reality tv promote a dangerous stereotype in many different ways. For an example, the tv show “Jersey shore” give the Latin-American a bad image. In addition, others will have a bad perspective on how New Jersey is viewed to the world. Therefore, reality tv promotes a dangerous stereotype on cultures, genders and norms over the world.

Reality television is an addicting phenomenon that graces millions of televisions daily. From shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Life of Kylie, and Love and Hip Hop to series like My Strange Addiction, Hoarders, and My 600-lb Life, reality TV has left its mark and impacted today’s society in more ways than one. It has slithered into mass media to dominate lives and focus on “real” events or situations that have long term effects on its viewers. This brand of television serves as a reflection of society and often exploits its participants if not glamorizes a certain lifestyle that may seem unattainable to its viewers. For example, the Kardashians represent success and the achievement of the American dream that, to many, is elusive. Through the dramatization of mental illness, Hoarders exploits its viewers and reinforces the perception of these people as outsiders which lead to further marginalization and hiding of hoarding behavior.

Television was not at its best a decade ago, producers were struggling trying to figure out how it can reach to a broad audience and have them stay. Thanks to reality T.V, the television industry has not been the same ever since. Reality TV always get its viewers on the edge of their chair, from shows like The Bachelor, to other shows like Intervention, “all of them make you sit up and pay attention” (Poniewozik 1). Reality TV shows will do whatever it takes to get people to watch them. From a simple show called The Bachelor talking about love stories, to a show where they show a life of drug addict. They all presents a stories within, and sending a message to its viewers. What makes the viewer watches the show is the messages that the reality tv show trying to reach to its viewers.

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.

Everyday we are bombarded with images of perfect hair, luxury cars, and a life of extravagance we all desire. American society glorifies the rich and broadcasts their life of ease. We watch movies like “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “American Hustle” in order to make our lives more exciting. Escapism has become part of our society; we fantasize living like the Kardashians or the Real Houswives of any city. Because of reality TV, we have become infatuated with the extravagant lives of others rather than our own.

As you can see reality tv is dominating our lives. Just as we say goodbye to “The Biggest Loser”, we say hello to Masterchef, but why is reality tv so popular? What tips and tricks go down behind the scenes to influence the way we view the characters? Reality TV programs claim to be showing us a true glimpse of life as it happens, but what we truly see isn't “real”. Reality television is not a reflection of reality, because there are many techniques that producer use, such as adding music/ sound effects, variety of camera shots and angles, little things like editing and voice overs, which create a biased view of situations and people.

The key aspect discussed is how Murrow would not agree with modern television; he did not agree with the use of reality TV in society because it was not sharing the kind of news he personally felt it should be. Murrow felt very strongly that television companies were being simpleminded by not sharing news on wars or new inventions over a TV. Reality shows are beneficial to people, they share information to the public as well, and it influences everyone.

For close to a decade, the ethics behind the existence of reality TV have been questioned. While there are ardent viewers of reality TV, researchers and other scholars disapprove them, and claim that the world would have been in a better place. Reality TV shows, especially in America, are extremely profitable to media owners, and this has increased their popularity in the recent years. The main target audience for these shows are teenagers and women, who spend a lot of time discussing about them, even hours after the shows. Most of the reality shows in America and other parts of the world have common ideas. The most fundamental aspect of most reality TV shows is that they display people who go through embarrassing, painful and humiliating ordeals. This is what the reality shows expect their audiences to be entertained, and presumably laugh at the situations the people go through. For this reason and many more, it has been found that they are more detrimental than entertaining to the society, and therefore, the world would be in a better place without them (Pozner 89-91).

First and foremost, many reality shows are harmful to children and teens, as reality TV shows are programs that can quickly affect children's behavior. Children learn anything what they see on Tv shows and what they hear from individuals, and most of the children and teens spend their time watching TV, specifically by watching reality shows; yet, most of the reality TV shows use bad language. When teens and children hear vulgar words, they start using them in public, which makes them rude and disrespectful. Many reality tv also makes teens and children more comfortable with swearing, and teens and children feel that swearing or using vulgar words are a normal and acceptable aspect of everyday language due to some reality shows. As a consequent, this affects their character. In addition to changing children's personality, many reality shows cause many teens to lose their confidence. Since, people on the reality TV always wear expensive

The modern era of reality TV began decades ago. The introduction of the reality show Survivor to the world has immediately caught attention of audiences from all around the globe.Apart from the basic definition of television which is to entertain, inform and educate, reality telev sion has the power to rise a trend and its' ability to influence has caused it to become the target of commerical brands to offer sponsorship for adversiting purpose. It has also triggered the emergence of more reality shows ,from the good old classic shows like Survivor, The Real World, etc. to American Idol, Amazing race, X-factor, etc that we are watching nowadays. The viewers of reality television increases by leaps and bounds every year despite the fact that some of the reality shows burn out after few seasons .Hence,in this essay we will examine the enduring population of reality television and its causes and effects .

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.

In today’s time, television has a broad array of shows. These programs range from children’s cartoons all the way to real-life dramas. Reality television portrays families in their everyday lives and how the typically handle dramatic situations. Although there is some truth in the family’s lifestyles and relationships, reality television creates a false interpretation of the way everyday families should live; moreover, the producers construct staged scenes, unrealistic images, and promote immorality.

Reality television tries to disguise what is really going on in the television shows. The actors and producers shine a false spotlight on “reality”. “Reality television is defined as a ‘TV show observing real-life situation: television programs often deliberately manufactured situations, and that monitor their emotions and behavior’” (Paredes 26). Reality television is a bad influence on our society today due to the popularity, decision making, and misconduct of the individuals shown. People in today’s time can be compared to the time period when The Lady or the Tiger by Frank R. Stockton was set. Today’s world lets reality television and live shows influence their decisions by trying to make it look like powerful individuals have control over their own lives when in reality they don’t, just as the characters in the story allowed the trials to give them entertainment at the expense of someone’s torture.

The cultural phenomenon ‘Reality Television (TV)’ has become an increasingly popular genre of television since its paroxysm onto the airwaves in 1945. The term ‘Reality Television’ can be defined as the genre of entertainment that documents the lives of ‘ordinary’ individuals through the exhibition of allegedly unscripted real-life scenarios, despite inquisitive inquiries disclosing Reality TV to entail facets of script. The primary objective of Reality TV is purely to entertain the audience. This genre of television is appealing to viewers due to its entertainment principle/value, the audience’s competency to correlate to the characters and their situations, and the contingency it presents for escapism and voyeurism. We can capitalise the Australian appropriation of the American popular dating Reality TV show ‘The Bachelor’ as a tool to further comprehend the purpose and appeal of Reality television. The postulations of media’s obligations to society in contrast to their current actions and media as a mirror to society - the normative theory, can also be utilised as an implement to apprehend Reality TV. Through the strict analysis of ‘ The Bachelor’ and the employment of the normative theory, the purpose and appealing factor of Reality TV can be deeply examined.

Can you believe that reality television has actually been around since 1948? Most of us may have thought that this idea of real television just came about in the last decade but actually it’s been around for quite some time. In 1948 Candid Camera was the first reality show to be broadcasted on television. Many considered this to be the “granddaddy” of the reality TV genre (History of reality TV). This show actually began in radio broadcasting. Allen Funt was the man in charge of this whole new production. He started by simply taping complaints of men in service and broadcasting them over the Armed Forces Radio. This is what later became known as the television show, Candid Camera. Candid Camera was known for