Teen oriented dating reality shows are undermining the values of our youth - Essay Example

Scholars and experts have engaged in thought-provoking debate on the impacts of the reality television programming on the society, with majority perceiving it have negative influence especially on the youth. With emphasis on teen-oriented dating reality shows, this paper seeks to differ with the assumption that these reality shows undermine the values of the youth in society (Bilandzic and Rossler 296). For the purpose of this paper, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette dating reality shows will be the primary example throughout the paper.

Contrary to these assumptions, the paper reiterates that dating reality shows actually demonstrate a number of beneficial values to individuals, especially the youth. According to some portion of scholars, claiming that a television show has negative or positive influence over reality is to forgo the x factor. This has nothing to do with the show. The main contributing factor to such perception is what the viewer takes from an experience, similar to the interpretation of the Christian Bible. The presentations may largely vary, but the results will be the same: people will hear what their conscience wants to hear, and proceed to apply those experiences in their lives in ways that benefits them personally.

However, this does not make the particular thing good or bad. If our judgment no everything based on their effects on people, then most of what we consider sacred and moral would be bad since religious fervor is the cause of many battles in the past. Just like people, the media can have both positive and negative impacts on the society at the same time. Indeed, the presentation may have some bias on one direction or the other, but the most important determinant is the individual doing the viewing (Reiss and Wiltz 364).

It is thus important to look and evaluate the types of people watching a particular program before pointing fingers in any directions. In