Teens and reality shows, is it harmful for them to consume those shows?

Parents, in addition to worrying about many aspects of their children’s education in general, must also take into account the cultural and leisure content they consume. Thus, not only the school, friends and family are relevant, but also the content they consume in the media.

The television and Internet are now very present day in the life of the smallest of the house. Unlike other generations, they were born with this technology and cannot imagine their life without it . It is true that it is to a certain extent essential, but that does not imply that they can manage their content at will.

In PregDream we tell you why these can become unsuitable for our teenage children and why.

WHAT EFFECTS DO REALITY SHOWS HAVE ON OUR TEENAGE SON’S LIFE?

Nothing more and nothing less than about 25%, approximately, of the public of these programs are adolescents between 12 and 17 years old . This figure is increasing more and more daily. This is because many of these reality shows are broadcast within children’s hours. It may seem that your child as a teenager is no longer a small child. However, you should keep in mind that he is not yet an adult and that his mind is still very malleable, so your job as a parent is to make sure that if he watches these shows it is under your supervision and that he does not really extrapolate the models and this fictional world from television to real life.

Studies of adolescents who watch reality shows on a daily basis show that their interaction with other children is similar to the behavior they see on these shows , that is, they speak in a more grotesque way, seek verbal conflict, like to criticize and judge , and so on. Not all reality shows are bad, however, in the vast majority of them we find characters (who acting or not) do not have the best way of behaving that we would like our children to learn.

Even if this is to extrapolate it completely, your adolescent may not want to go to this extreme, but he will believe that there is no point in studying and having culture if other models of people can earn a living without effort. In addition, criticizing and talking about the lives of others in a derogatory way makes it a person prone to arguments and value judgments without a really unfounded reason. If you do not want your adolescent to adopt this way of seeing the world, it is best to limit the time of the reality show.

TEACH THEM FROM A YOUNG AGE

At this point in his life your child will be more susceptible than when he was still a child and it will be more difficult to modify his behavior, especially if all his friends watch these programs and comment on them in class. Therefore, it will only depend on the values that you instill in them from a young age that your adolescent knows how to differentiate reality from television fiction . You can then watch these shows without feeling the need to become one of the characters on a reality show or behave like them. If adolescents learn to see these programs as fiction, it will be easier for them not to adapt their behaviors to their way of life.

However, adolescent minds are more malleable and still have a lot to learn, so your education will have to be severe and constant. Only in this way will your teenager learn that he can enjoy reality shows from time to time without really believing everything that appears on the screen and without losing his education and desire to study and get a job in what he really wants, without believing it is Better to apply to one of these programs simply to make easy money.

VARIOUS TYPES OF REALITY SHOWS

Not all reality TV shows people without great ambitions. There are others dedicated to song, cooking or other talents that can also hook your children and teach them values ​​such as perseverance and improving day by day to achieve their dreams. The bad thing about these reality shows is that they will make your child believe that they only need the opportunity to appear on television to achieve their dreams, but it is not that easy . If your son wants to be a singer or a cook, for example, explain that he will first have to finish school and then specialize in it. Effort is the key to success.

When you realize that it is not as easy as standing in front of a camera, you will see that reality is stranger than fiction. Therefore , by controlling what your teenagers watch and how they interpret it, you can help them so that reality shows do not have a negative effect on them, but rather the opposite, but it depends entirely on you.