problem reality television has on the youth

Problem Reality TV Has on the Youth
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Abstract
The purpose of the paper is to describe the problems the youth experience due to the reality TV shows. The reality television started around 2000.Nowadays every channel is home of the reality shows. The reality TV is the most common genre in our today’s society. The shows are increasingly becoming viral exposing the youth to the modern world. The youth are becoming exposed to the drugs, immoral culture, sex and idol worshipping at tender ages. The consistent watching of the reality TV affects the psychology of the youths thus they begin to imitate what they see in the TV channels. The paper highlights the negative impacts of reality TV on the youth. It explains how the youth are affected by the reality shows. The conclusion gives the control measures the parents should take to curb the problem.
Introduction
The main negative effects of the reality TV shows include the changes in the self-esteem and loosing of focus in the one’s life. The youth begin to take life differently from what the guardians advise them (Greenfield 2014). The youths become violent and obsessed by the shows they watch. Most of the youth spend at least 28 hours glued to the television to watch such shows. This translates to 15000 hours annually. The amount of time is m more than the time a normal student spends in the school learning.
Effect on the self esteem
When the youth are exposed to the reality shows, they become bounded to practice the habits they watch daily.

The psychologists say that the reality TV changes the way the young girls perceive themselves and how they overcome the life challenges. The reality shows depict the women beauty and the emergence of the socialites. This makes the young ladies think that the beauty and the appearance of the woman are very important to become successful in life (Greenfield 2014).  
The reality TV shows the beauty and fashion involve beautiful and attractive women. The youth, especially the young girls begin to compare themselves with them. They begin to think that what they see in the shows is natural and it the best for them. However, this gives misleading information on how a person should look and perceive life. The shows also exaggerate the living standards for the youth to succeed in life which is opposite to the real-life situations. The youth begin to have the feeling that they are not smart and attractive unless they imitate the celebrities they watch the shows. The chances of the lower self-esteem are thus increased. The youth begin to suffer an inferiority complex. For instance, the concern to be physically attractive affects the appetite of the young girls (Skeggs 2013). The girls begin to eat less food to avoid being fatty and look attractive. The eating disorder might be due to the peer pressure from the other teens and the pressure to look fit. This attitude has the negative impact and develops insecurities.
Effect on moral behaviour
The youth become materialistic and hard- partying people. They tend to copy the lifestyle of the celebrities without the regard to the negative consequences. For instance, the reality show entitled ‘ the Beverly Hills Rich Kid’ encourages the youth to hard- party, wear well-tailored clothes, get into drug abuse, have frequent extravagant trips and practice immoral behavior(Skeggs 2013). The show has privileged young people who spend most of their time partying and drinking excessively. This changes the minds of the youth into sexy behaviors and engages in such activities. Sometimes the youth even don’t bother being arrested. They try to emulate everything the celebs so long as their popularity begins to grow. The celebrities in the shows emphasize on how they are extravagant and materialistic. The youth fail to learn that they have to work hard in their income generating activities to live such kind of life.
The drug abuse and the irresponsible sexual behaviors are common negative impacts of the reality shows. The youths begin substance abuse to become high and imitate the celebs they see in the shows. The drug abuse affects the personal judgment thus the youth get into sexual immoralities. This leads to contraction of deadly diseases and unplanned pregnancies to the young girls. The youth who are in college drop from studies due to drug addiction. The truancy leads to the increase of criminal activities in the society. The youth engage in such activities to sustain their hard-partying lifestyle.
The shows emphasize so much on the immoral behavior, materialism, and the bullying behavior. The shows do not give the details on how the celebs became successful in their life. The youth thus fail to focus on the life and get into businesses which can make them successful. They think that success comes from nowhere which is a myth. The bullying behaviors cannot make the youth succeed (Skeggs 2013). They have to engage in practices which can make them move forward economically. On centrally, the youth engage in robbery activities to earn their livelihood. The youth loose the focus on how to engage in activities which can make them succeed in life rather than living in world of imitation. The reality shows mislead the youth by encouraging the hard-partying life. On the other side, youth are not aware that the extravagant life styles is not a symbol of success in life. The lack of focus in life makes the youth become nuisance in the society.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the reality shows have negative impacts on the youth. The parents should monitor the shows the youth are watching and give them enough guidance on how to progress in life. The channels should block the youth watching the shows. This will reduce the negative effects on the youth. The parents should teach their youth the danger of engaging in bad behaviors and limit the time they spend watching TV. The best method for the parents is to sit down and watch the television together with their teenage children. It makes the parents monitor the behavior of the youth and prevent moral decay.
References
Greenfield, P. M. (2014). Mind and media: The effects of television, video games, and computers. Psychology Press.
Skeggs, B., & Wood, H. (2012). Reacting to reality television: Performance, audience and value. Routledge.