Television Shows and Society's Values
How Viewing Habits Influence Changing Norms
Flashback to the 1960s, when the popular television shows included Leave It To Beaver, My Three Sons, I Love Lucy, and Gilligan’s Island. While perennial favorites, today these shows would probably not get past the editor’s desk. Audiences would not accept the stereotyped families, characters, and situations today.
Many of today’s TV shows depict our current society’s norms. Some shows depict what the producers would like to present as a norm. More violence, more sex, and more offensive language is shown today than ever before. When viewed repeatedly, these things work to change society’s norms.
How Changing Norms Are Introduced to Television
These changing norms are introduced a little at a time, one show at a time. As audiences repeatedly encounter them, and continue to view the shows, the initial shock value wears off, and more of it is tolerated. Cable channels are under less constraints than the network channels and are able to push the boundaries further.
Reality shows such as Tila Tequila, Rock of Love, and The Hills, show a distorted view of reality. Viewers, especially younger ones, may begin to believe that some of the behaviors depicted on the shows are normal and acceptable. Thus, the societal norm is pushed a little past the current boundary.
How Television Affects Viewer Values
People tend to create mental relationships with the characters on television shows. Television portrays most people as successful and wealthy, in direct opposition to the fact that most people are middle class. Viewers see the lush lifestyles, and may begin to accept the norm that money is vital to happiness.
Television also portrays winners in contests as heroic, and the losers as lacking in social or physical abilities. This can make viewers begin to think that winning is important at any cost.
Violence is so common on television shows that viewers have become less sensitive to it. More violence is portrayed on the television than actually occurs in life, leading to a scary perception of the world as portrayed by crime dramas.
How Television May Have a Positive Effect on Values
Television now depicts women and minorities in positions of responsibility and power. No longer are women expected to be a mother who stays home and cooks for her family, and serves her man, as the 1960s television shows glamorized. As viewers see more women and minorities as professionals, and leaders, they will be more likely to accept these things in their own lives.
Television today often depicts the healthier attitudes of society, such as exercise, not smoking, and responsible drinking. More often today, alcohol consumption is shown with negative consequences, instead of the happy, social drunk common on television shows in the 1950s and 1960s.
Smoking has largely disappeared from the medium as well, a difference from the old television shows where virtually every adult smoked.
The ways families are portrayed has changed. No longer are they shown only as a nuclear family with a father, mother, and two children. Now families are depicted in the many varied types relationships today. This positive influence on values, can promote tolerance of differences.
Choosing TV With a Positive Message
With so many TV choices available today, viewers can be critical consumers of entertainment. It’s possible to avoid negative messages by switching channels and watching television shows that promote more realistic views of today’s society. Being aware of the effect viewing habits have on values, helps viewers to be thoughtful in what television shows are invited into the living room.
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