Stefan Monsouir
Eng. 106 / ERAU
17 MAY 2014
Persuasive Essay Rough

Reality television today is destroying generation after generation of young people. You cannot turn on the television without seeing some type of drama in the form of fighting, someone finding out that their three year romantic online relationship was a lie, or even sixteen year old girls who got knocked up and think they have it all figured out until the reality sets in. The largest fan base for reality television is children and teenagers who are being negatively influenced by what they see and hear on these shows. One big problem with reality television is that it promotes violence. It does not matter if it is a competition cooking show, a group of random individuals living together, or a show about a pawn shop; there is always some type of fight happening. Whether it is a heated argument and both parties are in each other’s face yelling or in some cases there have been actual fights, it is like producers love the fact that there are fights on their shows because that is what boosts ratings and that’s what makes them money. Television producers actually manipulate situations to create tension and fights and even though producers don’t come right out and admit it, you can see it in the commercials for the show when all you see is the fights and the drama; it is what catches the eyes of the watcher and sparks the interest. Among the fighting and the arguing, the fact that people have such disrespect for others around them is pretty ridiculous. Walking hand-in-hand with the violence is the disrespect that people have towards one another. Children barely old enough to walk and talk are thrown into beauty pageants and grow up yelling, kicking, screaming, and demanding things from their adult parents. Teenagers cussing out their parents, hitting their parents, and also demanding things from their parents like they are entitled to receive anything. Adults talking down to and judging people that they don’t know, even making fun of other people because of the way that the other person carries themselves. Almost everyone is disrespecting each other in every way imaginable but on the other hand, demanding the very same respect that they do not show others. All of the disrespect creates the tension and the conflict between other people and there are the violence and the drama that the television producers love to see. All of this negativity that young people watch on television causes them to think this is how the world should be and causes them to make bad decisions. The most disgusting of all of that reality television promotes is teen pregnancy. Shows like “16 and Pregnant” promote under age pregnancy although not blatantly. Now shows like this may not intentionally promote underage sex or pregnancy but on the other hand, they are not taking the shows off of the networks. Young women watch these shows and think that it is cute to have a baby and they think it’s like having a doll that they can dress up and play with. There are young women in the world that think that if they get pregnant while sixteen they can get on one of these shows just so they can be on camera and possibly become famous. It is thought processes like this that are instilled in the minds of the young people watching these reality shows that are destroying the young people of today and tomorrow also. Everything that the young people of today say, do, wear, eat, drink, etc. is heavily influenced by what they see and hear on television today. There are literally tons of different ways that reality shows influence young individuals today, some good and some bad, but no matter how you look at it, television is the major factor that plays in the choices that young people make. Maybe one day producers will be more concerned with what message they are sending to the young people that boost their ratings rather than the ratings themselves.