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Nicolette McCarthy

Dr. Werner

EN 475

23 September 2019

Digital Essay

Whether you are obsessed with Kim Kardashian and her sisters, absolutely loathe Chris

Harrison and his show The Bachelor, or have zero care to know what happened this week with

Snooki and JWoww, one cannot deny to falling into the traps of watching reality television once

in a while. Many argue that reality television is a form of “brainwashing”; showing its viewers

the dramatic lives of others that people find to be “inappropriate” and “a terrible influence”.

What is neglected, however, is that there may be some benefits that one would not realize

initially. The purpose of this essay is to reflect on the positives of reality television, the fact that

it is an escape from the tragedies of today’s society, it educates a lot more than one may think,

and the people from these shows create an impact on society beyond the television screen.

First off, reality television can have a positive impact on its viewers because it creates an

escape from the tragedies of today’s society. In Sanjana Sathrasala’s The Benefit of Reality TV,

she talks about a study done by researcher Cynthia Frisby which revealed an upbeat impact on

those being surveyed. She surveyed a sample of 19-29 year olds, who watched an episode of

“Joe Millionare”, a reality television show that follows a group of women who hope to fall in

love and end up with a “millionaire”. Turns out, this dreamy “millionaire” is not actually one at

all, and in reality, is a simple average man. After watching the episode, Frisby then testing the

moods of the participants, which resulted in an overall positive increase in their mood. The

following is Frisby’s explanation of the experiment:

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“Audiences know that when the curtain comes down and the lights come on in the

theater, everything is back to the way it is. That’s what reality television does for the

regular viewer. These shows are distracting from today’s tragic events and give viewers

an outlet for watching others overcome hardships, escape danger, live in a rain forest,

learn to survive under the roughest conditions and yes, find love.” (Sathrasala, 2017).

Figure 1: Joe Millionaire

As evident, Frisby’s experiment creates such a positive impact on its viewers in that it allows

them to have hope in their own troubling lives, the same way these actors do in the show.

Watching people on television overcome issues and finally finding what they have been looking

makes people think for a second that the troubles they face, as well as their society, may have a

chance of being fixed. In other words, if these over the top actors can overcome their dramatic

issues, so can we in our own everyday lives.

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Another television series that promotes a positive reaction is America’s Got Talent.

Shows like America’s Got Talent allows people to audition and become something they never

thought they would be in a million years. Whether it is singing, dancing, or anything else they

desire, this show gives hopes to its viewers and allows them to see and believe that they, too, can

be somebody one day. The following video is a clip from a previous episode of America’s Got

Talent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDPdRYF7hTQ

Figure 2 Screenshot of America's Got Talent Clip via Mac

Kodi Lee, the contestant on this clip that just happens to be blind, actually ended up winning this

previous season of America’s Got Talent. The fact that a man with physical imparities like him

had won the show, will allow viewers that also have any form of disability to also believe that

they too can achieve a goal like this, regardless of their incapacities in life. Reality television can

really impact a person’s life and give them the hope they may not have had before.

Another reason why there is such a positive impact through reality television is because it

actually educates a lot more than many believe. Take the television show “Teen Mom” as an

example. When one initially thinks of the long-running program, many think it glorifies teen

pregnancy and allows young girls to think that becoming pregnant at a young age is. However, as

studies have shown the show has made an opposite impact on its viewers. When television shows

such as “Teen Mom” and “16 and Pregnant” first came out, teen pregnancy dropped to an all-
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time low in the past 70 years. Just the year after, in 2010, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen

and Unplanned Pregnancy administered a survey in which 87 percent of respondents who

watched “16 and Pregnant” felt that they were educated about becoming a parent at a young age”

(Sathrasala, 2017). It comes to show that many

reality shows are actually teaching viewers what can

occur when making specific life decisions, in this

case teen pregnancy. The fact that young girls are

watching what can potentially happen to them if

there were to have a child during their teenage years, Figure 2 Decrease of Teen Pregnancy: Pew Research Center

understanding the negative effects of it, and all together lowering the teen pregnancy rate is

astounding. It appears that the shows we fear to show the youth may actually be more

educational and positively impacting than we think.

The final reason of why reality television can have such a powerful impact on their

viewers is because these shows create an impact on society beyond the television screen. A great

example of this, which may not be expected at first, is the Kardashians. The following is a list

created by Rebecca Zamon on the Huffington Post that exemplifies the 8 positive things the

Kardashians have done for the world:

1. Transgender Acceptance

2. Body Image Love

3. Armenian Genocide Education

4. Interracial Relationships

5. Fertility Issues

6. Lady Boss
Figure 2: Screenshot from Kim Kardashian's Instagram - Huffington Post
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7. Building an Empire

8. Sisterhood Rules

Although the stereotypical ideas of the Kardashians puts a negative taste in people’s mouth, they

actually use their platform in order to speak on controversial issues in order to make a positive

change in the world. Whether it is education the Armenian Genocide, which many are unaware

of, to showing support to the transgender community, it is shows like this that help influence

positive attributes of life that we too should be focusing on.

Overall, reality television has a much more positive impact on its viewers than one would

expect. Reality television, like anything else on television, allows us to learn about the world in a

much simpler, entertaining manner. It allows us to take a break from our stressful lives, and be a

part of a television program that connects to us in many ways.

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Works Cited

“Joe Millionaire.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 5 Jan. 2003, www.imdb.com/title/tt0348949/.

Livingston, Gretchen. “Why Is the U.S. Teen Birth Rate Falling?” Pew Research Center, 2019,
www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/02/why-is-the-teen-birth-rate-falling/.

Sathrasala, Sanjana. “The Benefit of Reality TV.” The Perspective, the-

perspective.org/1351/opinion/the-benefit-of-reality-tv/.

Talent, America's Got, director. Golden Buzzer: Kodi Lee Wows You With A Historical Music
Moment! - America's Got Talent 2019. YouTube, YouTube, 28 May 2019,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDPdRYF7hTQ.

Zamon, Rebecca. “8 Ways The Kardashians Have Bettered The World. Yes, Really.” HuffPost
Canada, HuffPost Canada, 31 May 2018, www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/07/14/positive-
things-kardashians_n_7796158.html.