Really TV... REALLY???

A scene from the popular VH1 reality series "Basketball Wives"

It seems like everywhere you look these days there is some new reality show popping up. With titles like "America's Next Top Model," "Basketball Wives," and "Jon & Kate Plus 8," it's readily evident that we are a country obsessed with being in other peoples business. The question I pose is how did this happen? When I was a child I remember being told that being a busybody was a bad thing. Gossiping was actually frowned upon. Now, it seems that this along with many other unpalatable character qualities has not only become popular, but is actually being encouraged. With the rise of reality shows, it has become more difficult for creative and well thought out programming to gain a foothold. Society is faced with a barrage of mindless unintelligent ramblings from individuals with no qualifications beyond being famous for the sake of being famous. While there are reality shows that follow the paths of professionals working in their industries of expertise, these are rapidly becoming the exception rather than the rule.

A scene from the Science Channel's reality series "Meteorite Men"

The realization of the current state of American entertainment brings about a very important question. How is all of this mindless entertainment affecting our society's next generation? Young children are watching more television than at any other period of history. Combine this with the fact that children not only watch large amounts of television but in many cases the television is completely replacing the influence of the parental unit in the household, and it becomes rather clear why the quality of content we allow on television is so important. While teens are not rated to be the largest consumer of television (which may or may not be accurate), it is well documented that it is at this sensitive juncture of development that we are most susceptible to peer-pressure and outside influences to change ourselves. The truly sad part about this entire quagmire, is that the ratings system which determine what remains on television and what doesn't is not even an accurate measure of what people are really watching and interested in seeing. In addition, there have been cases throughout history where popular programming has been cancelled for the sake of a specific agenda.

Stars of the MTV reality series "Teen Mom"

So where does this leave the American television watcher? You could intentionally avoid products advertised during programs which you don't watch... but that'll mean you actually have to watch the stuff you don't want to watch... and then hope that your baser instincts aren't intrigued by the same mindless entertainment you despise. Or, you could intentionally give your business to the companies who advertise during the programming you actually enjoy... but then that still leaves the issue of the rating system being a sham. I personally think web-based programming is the magical silver bullet in this equation. With internet programming, you can watch what you want, the people who produce the programming know who likes it and in what quantity, and there can be a drastic reduction of blanket ad's in hopes of snagging a few customers. In the future, greater parental controls can ensure that busy parents are firmly in control of what their children are watching, thus limiting the premature exposure of children to graphic content. I don't claim to have all the answers people, but that doesn't mean they're not out there. We just have to start looking.

Streaming media services such as Netflix offer an option

to the prepackaged media to which we have all
become accustomed.