What Is Reality TV's Influence on Culture?

For many, reality television is the lowest form of entertainment, an insult to our collective intelligence. In their view, reality TV lauds crass behavior and creates a voyeuristic peep show. It glorifies abuse, elevates shallow personalities and promotes dysfunctional relationships.

Yet, we watch. But why? Is it because reality TV is like passing a car wreck on the highway — we just have to look? Experts say our fascination has less to do with voyeurism and more to do with ourselves. Some people watch reality TV because it makes them feel superior. Others watch because they want to see other people humiliated.

What else could explain our fascination with David "Puck" Rainey, one of the first reality TV stars of MTV's "Real World." Puck routinely picked his nose and shouted homophobic obscenities at his roommate. Some psychologists say that such behavior on television has made popular culture into a cesspool of amoral behavior. Or perhaps, the reverse is true: If people did not want to view reality shows, then we wouldn't watch them. Some psychologists believe that reality TV is a witch's brew of deceit, vengeance and spite.

Reality TV relies on the willingness of ordinary individuals to have their lives played out in front of a camera. That mentality spills into our every day existence. We think nothing of being filmed by street corner surveillance cameras or store security systems.

Many say reality TV has put America through a cultural meat grinder by making stars of ordinary people who have little or no talent. Reality stars are picked from obscurity, and many end up back there. Some can handle fleeting fame, while others try desperately to hold on to it. They spend most of their time after the show seeking the rush once felt with becoming an instant celebrity.

Still, there is some good to reality TV. You just have to look deep to find it.

For Heather Havrilesky it was more than stuff. It was her father's life. Photographs of old girlfriends she never met. Books. An old driver's license. Heather's father had died, but as she writes in Salon, "How do you say goodbye to someone else's things without losing a piece of that person forever?"

Then Heather began to watch TV shows about hoarders. She decided to do something about her own problem. She went into a "cleaning frenzy, rifling through my closets and driving big bags of old stuff to Goodwill."

Such is the power of reality television. While many people think that reality TV is nothing more than a series of freak shows, some serve the greater good. A good deal of what is on TV can be very useful to the viewer. Although hoarders have been around for centuries, shows such as "Hoarders" have increased public awareness about a serious mental health issue.

While reality shows are mainly produced as entertainment, many convey important information. For example, although many say two of TV's most controversial reality shows, MTV's "Teen Mom" and "16 and Pregnant," glamorize teen pregnancy, some believe the shows act as a form of high-tech birth control. In 2009, the teenage pregnancy rate in the United States dropped to its lowest levels in 70 years. A 2015 study published in the American Economic Review found that the show likely contributed to a 4.3 percent reduction in teen births.

Ultimately, though, reality TV is all about creating content that generates revenue by captivating audiences — whether through schadenfreude or sympathy. And, at the end of the day, isn't making money what reality TV is really all about?