Reality TV | Reality TV Helps Young People Learn About Life

Kimberly Shearer Palmer is a graduate student at the University of Chicago.

Summary: Young people find reality TV instructive as well as entertaining. They learn about dating, relating to their families, and dealing with sensitive issues such as AIDS, cancer, and mental illness by watching the way reality TV show participants deal with these crises. Because reality TV is unscripted and unrehearsed, the situations portrayed reveal true feelings and the realistic consequences of actions—good and bad.

Our obsession began with weekly...

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