Impact of Television on Us

Gossip Girls, 90210, The Bad Girls Club, Desperate Housewives...What are you and your kids watching?

I just watched an episode of The Bad Girls Club and wanted to throw up. Hair pulling, pushing, shoving, kicking. It looked like a bunch of barbarians.

The sad thing is this is a very popular show with teens. These "bad girls" pride themselves on being this way. In the episode I watched all the girls ganged up on one girl because she danced with a guy while the rest of them sat on the sidelines and sulked. They actually beat her up so badly she had to go to the hospital.

In spite of the fact that a lot of the people say they watch the show for the entertainment value, I wonder if that is all that is happening?

What all of these shows have in common is crazy, messed up relationships. I would expect adults watching these shows to be able to differentiate between the craziness and real life, but for a lot of teens I'm pretty sure they aren't there yet.

I don't believe in sheltering kids from reality, but I do wonder about shows like this and their impact on the way kids decide to deal with problems at school and at home. It seems like every time I turn around I am reading about teens killing their parents, bully other teens and the like. While I would like to believe this is the exception to the rule, with access to so many shows like the ones listed you have to wonder.

Any thoughts on this????? How do you handle television viewing with your kids? How did your parents handle it with you? (If you can remember, tee hee)