If you knew me a few years ago you might be surprised to see me make this claim because I was once an enthusiastic consumer. I celebrated bachelor monday, had watch parties for the Kardasians, and would binge through Love Island UK like it was the only way I knew how to spend my time. Even now I will still defend the Kardashians until I wear down whoever claims they have no talent because to me, it is clear that they do. However my perspective on the impact of reality TV has changed drastically, and I can barely keep up. Instead I now see the industry as intentionally creating toxic social norms to push a profit in such a way that harms viewers and their communities although lining the pockets of producers and actors (because actors perform in scripted media).
A common argument in favor of reality television focuses on the benefits that come when viewers connect with the subjects of a show. Dr. Jana Scrivani, a clinical psychologist, claims that
“Over time, we come to see the folks portrayed on the screen as friends. We identify with their struggles and triumphs. It’s much less time consuming to watch a half an hour television show than to connect with a friend.”
In this statement she essentially claims that the characters in reality shows are easier to be friends with than real friends, and that we naturally identify with their “struggles and triumphs.” Many people agree with this sentiment, that
We will come back to that last sentence later. Those in favor of reality television claim that it provides harmless entertainment while bolstering connections with real people, that in turn influences our ability to empathize with others. I can definitely understand how this was a well-regarded sentiment during the novelty of reality TV in the 1990s, but the industry has evolved into a calculated machine that definitely does not make people more empathetic.
In fact, a study in 2014 by Central Michigan University psychologist Bryan Gibson found that people are generally more aggressive after watching reality shows. He studied people who watched shows that had verbal abuse, bullying, exclusion, and manipulation in them. If you are asking if this study would then apply broadly to the genre or just to the most raunchy shows, I can tell you first hand that it does.
All popular reality tv shows have conflicts arise in order to keep viewers engaged. In the Kardashians it is the sisters punching, kicking, and cussing each other out, and every season of the bachelor a villain emerges who manipulates the lead and bullies at least one other contestant. The display of bad behaviors, that are often scripted or strategically cut by producers because they keep audiences engaged and revenue high, have a scientifically proven negative effect on their viewers.
Children are especially vulnerable, because they have “less capacity to separate entertainment for reality, so it is in the realm of possibility that the effects could be stronger in younger people.” Children and teens are the main audience of reality television, so they grow up internalizing that drama intentionally created to get views is a normal way to act.
Beyond bad behavior, reality shows can cause serious damage to mental health, which is something that I became aware of, and was the driving factor in my decision to stop my consumption. The Mental Health Foundation conducted a study that found 1 in 4 viewers of Love Island confirming that watching reality TV makes them worry about body image. Watching shows in which people are presented to have perfect lives can make viewers feel dissatisfied and depressed with their reality, even though they are being fed a scripted and edited production, not a CCTV feed of someone else’s daily life. I could continue with more and more studies that have come out in the past five years agreeing with my sentiments, but I think my point is clear.
Watching reality television is nothing to be ashamed of or feel guilty about. If you enjoy it, then good for you. However a critical examination of what incentives most of these shows: outrageous behavior, conflict, and perfection, rather than reality, means that they are not “an enrichment of our lived experiences,” rather they impact views by influencing bad behavior and harming mental health.
You bring up a topic that I feel is normally brushed past and not taken into account the harms it can have. What you brought up about how calculated reality tv has become goes into how toxic it is to the viewers. People can watch reality TV and may not separate real life and the way people normally act, losing social etiquette and behaviors, because they view "reality" tv as reality and real life. I also feel that because reality tv has become so extremely calculated and fake people find it harder to realize that they are simply watching these people for entertainment and not to relate to. Yes, in some ways an individual can relate to them but it…
Reality TV can be so toxic. So many people admire and look up to reality TV stars who do not represent good lives in my opinion. People are so used to watching drama that they forget that living a peaceful and calm life is okay too. The nervous system does not always have to be heightened. SO many of my friends act like the Kardashians sometimes as I listen to their lingo and their standards of life and honestly I laugh but its really sad that they have actually lost touch with real REALITY.
As someone who hates reality TV with every bone in their body, I completely agree with your point of people developing an inability to distinguish between real world situations and reality TV. It makes people more dramatic and toxic and I hate that. Living in LA, I'm often entertained by people who talk, approach problems, and hold similar values to the Kardashians and it's almost like they're not real people.
The point about young children not being able to distinguish between the real world and reality tv extremely relevant in my own life. Both of my parents lived on the Bravo channel, where the majority of the programming is reality TV documenting majority upper class Americans whose primary concern is their friendship drama. As a young child, it was often hard for me to comprehend why my own lower income family didn't live the lavish lives as the people on the House Wives shows that my mother watched. Often times when these shows are tied to certain geographic regions, they can also accentuate certain stereotypes that may also be damaging to certain groups when children grow up with that image…
I, too, was once an enthusiastic consumer of reality TV. However, as I grew up and recognized what is flawed, faked, and staged, they began to seem very unpleasant. It is interesting how “reality” has become a twisted fictional sense of representation within television that is completely irrelevant from what is real. A desire for entertainment encourages the media to portray their lives through an exaggerated lens, which I believe influences the viewers in very negative ways. The vulnerable youth takes this “reality” as real, and finds flaws within their own life.