Assignment 5 - Elizabeth Moore - No, I Don't Watch the Bachelor

As a child my parents limited my electronic consumption to 5 hours a week. I was encouraged to play outside and be independently imaginative. Children whose parents don’t enact such restrictions are at a serious developmental disadvantage. Since its inception our country has realized the necessity of an educated populous and that education must start at a very young age. And some television shows educate. But as in all things, TV channels are in the business of making money. And they can only keep a lucrative business if people watch their shows, so television becomes less educational and gains addictive qualities. Parents find that their children are invested in the imagined reality of TV characters rather than in their own reality. These same children fill the time that they might have spent exercising their imaginations with addictive TV shows with no educational value or aspect of imagination.

And it’s not just children. Shows like The Bachelor, Keeping up with the Kardashians, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and other reality TV shows have wormed their way into the backs of fans’ minds. These shows promote immorality, disloyalty, materialism, and shallowness, despite their entertaining nature. Ultimately, it’s not just children whose television consumption needs to be limited.