Reality Television and Peer Abuse

Reality Television has become incredibly popular in the United States. These days, there may be more of this than any other form of viewing, and while some of it can be educational, much of it can be detrimental.


According to an article in USA Today, reality television may be teaching Americans how to overreact. We see participants form alliances against others, verbally abuse each other and exhibit physical violence. Adults understand that this behavior is for entertainment purposes alone and that this is not how we should behave in our own lives. However, the article suggests that, without realizing it, we may be carrying this over into our own lives and how we react to others.


Dr. Roderick Hart, a professor at the University of Texas in Austin, says, "People can be seduced into thinking that’s the most common way of reacting to life when it’s not. Because of this 'tutoring' of emotions people are becoming culturally conditioned to think it’s okay to be more over-reactive."


Not only are they adding to the need to react emotionally, these shows may be teaching us how to bully and abuse peers. Exclusion, alliance-forming to harm others, and verbal and physical abuse all add to the problem of peer abuse. A recent study conducted at Brigham Young University on reality television and relational aggression found that shows like The Apprentice had 85 acts of verbal aggression an hour and American Idol had 57.


The more we watch reality television the more we are learning that it is okay to abuse others. It is not okay to abuse anyone, and maybe it is time to evaluate this behavior in our culture. This is certainly something to think about.

Article first published as Reality TV and Peer Abuse on Technorati

The Clique: Summer Series: Check it out!

Hello all! Well, its summer again and that means no school, vacation and trying to keep the kids entertained until school starts again. Your children may be in summer programs in the area or may be at home watching television, playing online or just reading books. If this is the case, I want to let you know about a summer blog I am doing on the tween books called The Clique by Lisi Harrison. These are a series of books about five tween girls in Westchester, New York who are in the 7th grade at Octavian Country Day School. The Clique has been popular amongst the tween crowd so I am sure many tweens will be reading these books during the summer.

The purpose in doing this is not to tear Lisi Harrison or her work apart. She is a good writer and is reaching many tween girls with her books. Yes, sadly this behavior is everywhere and a writer can only write on what they know. Lisi has also told tweens to stop acting like these girls in the book and stop trying to be accepted by these mean girls at school or anywhere else they exist. So, please know I am not doing this to trash the author. I am simply using her work as an educational tool and that's all.

One thing adults, mainly parents need to be aware of is that the problem of Relational Aggression that exists in these books. I think the author is trying to show readers how ridiculous this behavior is amongst girls yet at the same time, its important to be aware of the abuse occurring as well. I am using these books as a learning tool to point out where the abuse occurs so you can be aware of this. As parents or any other authority figure, you need to be in the know of this problem and know what your children are reading. I hope this will be a help in educating. Please, sit down and talk to your children about the problem of Bullying/Peer Abuse. If your child is reading these books then please point out where the behavior becomes abusive. In this blog I will be pointing this out on these blogs book by book.

So, sit back and stay tuned for these blog posts. You can find this at The Clique Summer Series Blog so come on over, tell anyone you know about this blog and feel free to participate in discussion. I will be back to posting on this blog after Labor Day. Have a great summer!

Take Care,
Elizabeth