From werewolves to teen moms, from kid friendly, to adult supervision suggested. There are a variety of different shows on TV today. ABC Family has Secret Life of the American Teenager, Pretty Little Liars, and Switched at Birth. On the complete other side, MTV has The Real World, Teen Wolf, and Awkward. Throughout these shows, a lot of messages are being given off to the viewers. For instance in Secret Life, it portrays a 15 year old girl that gets pregnant in high school. This, unfortunately, is very common with thirty-four percent of today’s teens getting pregnant before their twentieth birthday, according to TeenHelp.com. They also show how family can love and support you through the very tough times.
“I don’t watch much TV, but some of the shows that I’ve glanced at are pretty bad, like that show about the girl that got pregnant, that should be cancelled,” said Joey Darring, 9th grade. In Teen Wolf, there is a lot of violence, sex, and even profanity. But on the flip side, it shows the willingness to help save a friend’s life when they are in need of it. With all of these circumstances in the shows, are there bad messages being spread through them? Mrs. Ciandella agreed, “I don’t like my daughter watching some of the shows but I do believe she knows better to not be influenced too much by them.”
Jayla Smith, 11th grade, said, “Yeah, I watch Teen Wolf, and yes it can be violent sometimes, but not anything too bad. I mean it draws people in, if it didn’t have the violence, lying, and all that stuff, it wouldn’t be a good show. But, the messages they are saying could be taken the wrong way.”
There are a lot of aspects to these shows that could really affect the lives of teenagers if the pursue the activities performed on them. All the lying and deception between characters, the cheating and conniving, but do these really leave an impact on young teens today? “Well I LOVE the show Awkward and no I don’t think it’s giving off bad messages because most of the events occurring within the show are true to teenage life. If you want to point fingers about messages I’d turn towards Secret Life of the American Teenager and Jersey Shore. I’m guilty of watching [them] all,” commented Jenna Jean, 12th grade.
