With new reality shows on MTV like "The Paper" and old ones still getting attention like the "Hills." You have to wonder, where are the parents in these situations? Are people getting fed up with what their kids are watching on TV?
I turned on the TV yesterday and was drawn to a show that has a lot to do with my major, journalism. The show is on MTV. It is called "The Paper," and it is about a high school newspaper and all of the drama that goes along with teens working together in a high stress, high school environment. Ok, so it sounds lame right? Well, yes it kind of was for a twenty-something college kid. But, you have to wonder, to kids that are in high school watching this, do they think that this is real life? And my question for parents of high school kids: Is it?
These kids are constantly belittling, ostracizing and make fun of one of the cast members and no one says anything. The teacher rarely, from what I have seen, pipes up and demands order, and the teens run the show. Is this the message that teen TV should be sending out to this next generation?
My generation of twenty-somethings grew up on the "Real World," which is now a show documenting raunchy nakedness and bar fights, and we are now called the lost generation, or the dumbest generation. What will this next group of kids be called? The bullies, the babies and the brats?
They are being fed meanness that is wrapped up as honesty and the mentality that this is the way the world is, deal with it.
"The Hills," another popular show deals with "real-life" issues: sex tape scandals, bar hopping and constant cat fights mixed in.
And shows like "MADE" and my personal favorite, just kidding, "My Supper Sweet 16” all document teens and make them come off as spoiled little rich brats. Now, if in reality these youths are really like that, who knows? But, that is the way reality TV makes them appear and in my own experience teens are impressionable. If you tell them it is real, they think it is. And, they will behave like they see others behaving.
My mom always says, "You learn from those you spend time with." She also put in there, "You are guilty by association." So, MTV and this reality teen TV craze... Think about that when you air a spoiled girl complaining about her red BMW when she wanted a pink one, a girl being bullied because she works hard and is smart, or when you try to turn a so called "geek," into what is deemed, "cool." Teens learn from you, right or wrong and that makes you at least partially accountable. Right?
Or do we hand it off to the parents?
Should parents start doing what lots of paretns did in my generation's youth? "No MTV till your old enough to handle it." Well, when is old enough to handle it with all of the adult content added to the programs?
Kids are still watching, because MTV has aged well over the years and continues to drop the music and opt in on the success of the reality TV craze. With new shows and old faithfuls still running strong, they are getting the ratings they need to make normal high school kids Hollywood stars and starlets.