There are pros and cons towards watching reality television, but in the modern time the more popular reality television shows are the ones that have shown the bad side of reality televison. Reality television is not only bad for people to watch in general, but it can also have bad effects on the physical and mental health of people who watch reality television. The people that our new generation of young girls look up to do not teach moral values, but instead portray a more negative side of themselves rather than showing them how to uplift each other.There are even pictures that have depicted the negative effects of reality television to young children. The increased movie violence has even been linked to real world homicides due to how glorified and gruesome these movies are depicted to show.
Reality television can also really damage a child's self image and lower their self esteem. According to Raewyn Ng titled, “…reality shows take it a step further, promoting the sexual objectification of people as entertainment." This is most likely referencing the show Naked Attraction which is said to be based on self love and people going completely nude on a first date but is more like people seeing each others body parts for their own personal attraction not actual love. When children are shown things such as this, they most often think they must have a perfect physique to be happy and fall in love ,but this perception of how love is should not be paraded around for young developing minds to see. It is important that children are shown body positivity messages and body acceptance messages which are put in place rather then letting kids believe that the only way to find love is have a perfect body. Ng states ,“ Inside these bodies are actual people, with feelings, thoughts and values which is a perfect body positivity message.
The statistics are also there if more proof is needed to show society how damaging not only to the youth but through the ages as more and more movies decided to come out depicting graphic actions in movies and how the viewers watched and portrayed what they saw. In the 1920’s where it all started the homicides were high but gradually picked up until 40 years later there was a constant rate of murders and violence in movies in which we saw that violent movies and homicide rates had correlation through the years. In another cartoon there is a jail inmate telling children “Rape, Violence, Gangs, and Solitary confinement! It’s not worth it kids” in which the children responded ,“ Wow is prison that bad” then the inmate states “I’m [talking] about reality [television].” In the cartoon the artist is trying to say how parents let their children watch these violent films but expect them to do nothing with this violent information is just adding to the problem of society already has to deal with.
Reality television can be bad at times, but it some we can benefit it from it. All together reality television can be very bad for one’s personal health and their physical health. There can be detrimental effects done to young women if they keep looking up to these women. The statistics that have proven to have bad effects dating back to the 1920’s are horrible and need to be dealt with. Cartoons have also been drawn to teach us that jail is similar to what we watch on reality television.
Lack of Support for Military Children
By Emily Zeigler
As a military dependent that transferred to Olympian High School in junior year, I did not feel welcome.
Being a military child is difficult. According to the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), the average child in a military family will move six to nine times from kindergarten to high school.
I was lucky to only move twice. I lived in Virginia Beach, then Guam, and now Chula Vista. Moving to Chula Vista was most difficult simply because the military community in our school is not strong. When I transferred to Olympian High School, I was behind on the summer homework. Because the school registered new students after school already began, I had to start an additional week late. One military kid I knew signed up for an AP class, but the teacher told her that it was “too late” to catch up and that she should drop the class.
Also, nobody gave me a tour of the school. Nobody helped me to figure out what my resources were and who to go to for help.
Link Crew was there to help the freshmen. However, my brother was overlooked and wasn’t partnered with a senior. I asked my fellow students if there was an organization to help students feel more welcome and they all said “We have peer mediation!”
The peer mediators are great and I love the work that they do, but it still wasn’t an organization to help welcome incoming students feel more included at school. My first few months, everyone assumed that I had always been attending Olympian or I transferred here from a nearby school. I struggled to make friends. Our school is a big school, with 2,500 students. It’s easy for kids to go under the radar. It’s easy for kids to be overlooked.
I know that there are military students who have assimilated easily into this new school. But that isn’t always the case.
Our community in Chula Vista prides itself on being a “military-friendly community,” yet I personally haven’t experienced efforts from our school to reach out to military families and help them feel like they belong.
Our school district has enough military kids to be considered for the National Math and Science Initiative grant, which according to the Sweetwater Union High School District website, was “implemented in 10 Sweetwater District high schools that have children of military personnel in their student bodies.” If we are attempting to promote the academic success of students, especially military students, then we need to also focus on improving the social aspects.