Are you proud to be a fan of reality tv?

I am proud to be a fan of reality television because reality television is educational. As a Communication professor, I encourage my students to watch reality television because it allows them to see real people communicating. Some people communicate effectively and some do not. Reality television makes it crystal clear just what goes into good communication and what goes into bad communication.

Most reality television throws together a group of unrelated people in a contrived situation and asks them to all get along for a period of time. During that time, cameras follow their every move and record their every word. We see conversations, arguments, and group dynamics at work. It’s like a miniature communication laboratory and we the viewers are right in the middle of it.

Many reality shows provide opportunities for each contestant to speak privately to the camera and at these times we get to find out even more about each contestantwhat motivates them, what they are thinking, what their strategies are. As fans of reality television, we keep in mind that what we know about each contestant based upon their revelations during the personal confession time is not known by the other contestants. We are, as viewers, somewhat like a director. We can anticipate how that contestant may act in upcoming situations because we are privy to their thoughts. Sometimes contestants confirm our evaluations and sometimes they surprise us-just like in real life.

I realize that for many people reality television has a bad reputation. Many consider the contestants self-centered, juvenile, and lacking intelligence. This may be true, but this is not because these traits are a requirement for reality television. That may be how it has developed, but it doesn’t have to be that way forever. Indeed, reality television is most effective when the contestants are bright and sophisticated. For example, the most recent Survivor winner Bob was certainly one of the most inventive and clever contestants in Survivor history. His brilliance may have been an anomaly among Survivor contestants but was definitely appreciated by fans, as he not only won Survivor, but also won the fan favorite award as well.

If a person grew up totally isolated and had only reality television to learn about how to interact with people, they could still learn what effective interaction entailed just by watching some of the best of reality television showsSurvivor, Big Brother, The Amazing Race. If we were all perfect communicators and we all got along well with each other, then maybe we wouldn’t need reality television. However, that is hardly the case. Even if reality television as it is now presents some less than desirable people doing some less than desirable things, it still shows us how people communicateand we cannot help but learn from that.