We have become prisoners to our own enjoyment. We as a society have let reality tv control how we think and live everyday life. Reality tv is bad for society, because we duplicate bad behavior that we see, it alters what we see as right and wrong, and we take enjoyment in watching others who are going through worse than ourselves.

According to the article “People Love Reality TV: Does it Affect How We Treat Each Other” written by Contessa Schexnayder “Our brains are active when we watch things. It stimulates thoughts that are related to it and increases the chances that you will perform that behavior yourself.” With the increased chances of us mimicking or duplicating these bad behaviors there is increased chances of havoc in society. Bad behavior is depicted in countless amounts of reality shows but few shows show these consequences on air time you only ever see these consequences off the air when these stars lives are affected by what they did on television. Society changes how we dress or look based on what is currulating in the media… “The Hot New Trend” So how are we to say we won’t copy the bad behaviors we see because when it is on tv there are no consequences.   

Our depiction of what is right and wrong is changed or altered due to reality television. In everyday life we are faced with things that we know are bad are wrong things that people shouldn’t do, you have to make a decision on what you should do either face it or walk away… this is known as fight or flight. Watching reality tv we see things that are bad all the time but because we see it all the time we take enjoyment in these things or are neutral to them and don’t have any reaction. When we see these things done all the time it is no longer wrong, it is normal. It’s not wrong if they play it on tv and it is accepted as okay. In the same article the author states “Normally if you were to see some really violent thing happening it might cause you to be upset and get emotional, but if you see it over and over again, that sort of behavior that was once shocking, slowly becomes more acceptable.”

    We find enjoyment in others pain. When watching Reality tv we watch other people go through tragedy, stress, tears, etc. We always watch more so we can see what happens with that couple on this show or that friendship on that show, we always watch cause we wanna see what drama there will be in this weeks episode of our favorite shows. There is always tears, always heartbreak, and always gonna be a fight or argument and we tune in to take our mind off of our life and laugh at other people’s “lives” and tragedy or sadness or anger. According to the article “Reality Check” written by Eric Jaffe “ ‘humilitainment,’ the tendency for viewers to be attracted to spectacular mortification... the German word schadenfreude, which translates to the pleasure one receives at the suffering of others.

 Reality tv is bad for society, we duplicate bad behavior that we see, it alters what we see as right and wrong, and we take enjoyment in watching others who are going through worse than ourselves. Society has let reality tv control how we think and live everyday life. Do not become a prisoner to reality television!