Protect your children from negative content

The Kenya Film Classification Board is launching a programme aimed at protecting the youth against broadcast content meant to promote terrorism and pornography.

The programme will ensure that content conveyed to the public is filtered so that it does not erode social values.

A colleague has the pleasant though unenviable task of raising three teenage daughters.

In a recent conversation he told me that Reality Television has become a huge part of our culture.

While it may be obvious to many adults that not all is “real” in the world of Reality TV, how do children understand that world? What could Reality TV be imparting to adolescent girls, in particular, about what is of real value in the world and how does it influence their beliefs, attitudes, image and behaviour?

Let’s look at some of the standards portrayed on Reality TV and how we can insulate and protect our children from their undesirable effects.

Physical Appearance and Sex Appeal: Most reality shows promote the impression that a woman’s value is based on her beauty and physical attributes, and that popularity is derived from that.

Shows such as America’s Next Top Model propagate this ideal, as young women compete with one another to win cash and modeling contracts.

Plastic surgery shows such as Botched portray people altering their appearance and expressing satisfaction with their looks and quality of life afterwards.

Keeping Up with the Kardashians catalogues the life of a family that spends a great deal of money and time on appearance, with a resulting rise in fame and popularity of its women and girls.

This practice confirms the notion that “real” successful people gain popularity and thus happiness by focusing on and augmenting their appearance and image.

Materialism: Other regular values perpetuated by Reality TV include materialism, and an idealisation of a hard-partying and “celebrity” lifestyle without regard for consequences. Shows like Rich Kids of Beverly Hills feature privileged young adults in southern California.

They take extravagant trips and spend a lot of money on alcohol-fueled parties and are seldom seen working regular jobs.

It highlights these young people engaging in risky sexual behaviour and even getting arrested. Despite their evident bad behaviour, their popularity as icons continues to grow.

Relational Aggression: Reality TV typically exposes inappropriate behaviour within peer groups, often showcasing interpersonal aggression and drama; where for instance in The Real Housewives franchise, backstabbing, gossip and aggressiveness are the order of the day. The expression of relational aggression between females on several reality shows gives girls the idea that backstabbing is a normal part of female relationships and that it is women’s nature to be competitive and belligerent.

What actually comes out is that being mean earns one respect and is often that you also have to be mean for you to get what you want.

As we try to discourage gossiping, backstabbing, bullying and other forms of aggression between our young girls, it is regrettable that reality shows that feature adults behaving exactly the same way continue to gain popularity.

Down playing intellectual attributes: While reality TV places emphasis on materialism, relational aggression and hard partying, it down-plays the fact that many women on these shows are highly intelligent and shrewd business people.

These shows are choreographed and packaged to attract viewership and advertisers.

Somebody somewhere is getting very rich at our daughters’ expense.

Reality Television and social media are here to stay and it is not possible to lock your daughters in the basement and filter what they watch or listen to.

Either way, our children are going to come into contact with all the negative content that is being streamed through the media.

The Kenya Film Classification Board, with all its good intentions, is engaging in an exercise in futility.

Ultimately the buck stops with the parents.

How can you protect your child from being influenced by all this negative content?