I’m not asking if it will deteriorate your vision or fry your brain cells. (We already know the answer to those questions is a resounding “yes!”) I’m talking about the impact TV shows can have on your worldview— on the way you think about society, and your place in it. What happens when you never see people like you representedon the small screen? What about shows that don’t do justice to things you’ve experienced? Can TV affect your mental health — not because you’re lounging on the couch instead of hitting the gym, but because it’s sending you hidden messages about how you’re “supposed” to think and behave?
I can’t answer these questions with more surety than you could in that dreadful media studies essay your tenth-grade teacher forced you to write.
But I can give you some strong guesses, backed by stats.
The Two-Way TV Mirror
TV shows are like mirrors: they reflect our beliefs back to us. But they can also shape those beliefs. They make some behaviours look normal, and others, strange. Most of the time, TV shows work in both of these ways at the same time. By reflecting already-popular beliefs, TV shows keep them alive.
If that tenth-grade media studies teacher was any good, they probably pointed out two main problems with this simple schema. First, the number one goal of writers and producers is to get attention. Their bosses are happy when their shows get lots of viewers. That means they need out-of-the-ordinary plotlines with shock value, not a documentation of normal people doing normal things.
Look at Breaking Bad, which chronicles all the trouble chemistry teacher Walter White gets into after a terminal cancer diagnosis sends him spiraling into the crystal meth trade so he can leave money to his family. Even so-called reality TV shows depict carefully casted people doing heavily scripted things, like dating 20 women at once on The Bachelor, or camping out with a bunch of strangers for a chance to win a million dollars on Survivor.
The second problem is that it’s impossible to tell exactly how much TV influences the way we think or act. We absorb popular beliefs in so many ways: from family, friends, and teachers, as well as media. So, we can’t prove that it — more than anything else — drives people to behave in certain ways.
All of that said, the media does play a role in shaping our beliefs, no matter how small. Canadians watch TV like it's their part-time job for almost 30 hours each week. It would be silly to say it doesn’t affect us at all. If TV didn’t engage us somehow — even if only as pure entertainment — we wouldn’t spend so much time watching it. Everyone reacts to TV shows in one way or another, whether it’s by agreeing with the beliefs depicted, striving to uphold them, questioning them, or rejecting them.
Why do you watch your favourite TV show? And what’s a show that rubs you the wrong way?
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