Development of the Adolescent

Crystal Herring September 3, 2003 Mr. Boyleston English 101 Face it! Reality TV is here to stay. No matter what you do or which channel you try to derail you are eventually going run into to one of those shows that reals you in. It's something that keeps the TV audiences on the edge of their seats with their cliff hanger endings, displays of raw, unbridled emotions, and insane ways people behave for love, money and fifteen minutes of fame. Through the eyes of a classic example of a teenager growing up on MTV's Real World, I see reality TV as an escape from the boring rigors of my own life to then in turn concentrate on omething more exciting and humorous. It's clearly apart of our society, and many others also, that we as Americans thrive on these sort of sitcoms. When we think our lives are at their worst just watch a complete stranger having troubles and it is strangely comforting. Is quality entertainment infact watching people make complete fools of themselves for the soul cost o f being on TV? Well, that is a question which is personally acquired. For me, eating bugs doesn't validate my insecurities and make me feel that I am the bigger, stronger person. Personal acheivements and triumphs definately fill that void for me.So I agree that the producers of these shows can sometimes take them to extreme measures for ratings, but isn't that the purpose? It's a dog eat dog world, survival of the fittest. My response to this is I can simply choose to entertain myself with certain reality shows such as The Real World and hate Fear Factor. That is the beauty of it all. Don't let one bad apple spoil the whole tree. Give a particular show a chance. You could find things in yourself you would personally like to change by seeing flaws in other people and watching this blunt form of reality can really make you realize what kind of eople you like. Reality shows are harmless, entertaining and clearly not going any where any time soon. When you have millions of public viewe rs watching a particular season finale that's entertainment. So until our society doesn't thrive on living vicariously through other's lives, there's no way that anyone can protest enough against reality TV to get rid of this type of mass entertainment. Anti-reality show viewers would have to convince the entire United States of America and many other countries that reality TV is degrading and frivolous. And that, you see, is another show all together.