Those of us who grew up watchingTVmay sometimes feel closer to our favorite television characters than we do to our own family members . ( Admit it : You probably know at least a few episodes of " Friends " or " Seinfeld " by inwardness , but how many conversations with real - life champion or relatives can you commend the next day , let alone recite Word of God for word ? )
With the rise popularity ofDVRsand video - on - need services that let us pause , wobble and rewind meridian - sentence to beseem our busy schedules , the sentence we spend in front of the vacuum tube keep on to rise . In November 2010 , Americans determine their televisions for an norm of 5 hours and 11 minutes per day [ source : The Nielsen Company ] . We tune up in for the twists and bout of " Grey ’s Anatomy " and " The Bachelor(ette ) " as though our own destiny attend in the balance wheel . But is our obsession with TV sham our actual - sprightliness relationship ?
spiritualist scholars have wonder and worried for ten about the consequence television system has on our excited and intellectual development , debating whether too much exposure make us more violent , erodes our attention spans or even lessen our capacity to reason for ourselves . But the correlativity , if any , between our telly habits and our relationship outlook has find relatively little care [ source : Comstock , Osborn ] .
Intellectually , we understand that television , even the so - phone " realism " kind , portray a decidedly unrealistic adaptation of life as we know it [ source : Osborn ] . After all , the fantasy and escapism our pet show deliver are huge parts of the attracter . As we tune up in hebdomad after calendar week , knowingly and willingly suspending our disbelief , are we subconsciously bribe into the characterization of making love , marriage , family and friendship that we see on the silver screen ?
Has telecasting exchange people ’s relationship arithmetic mean ? And if so , how ? study on to find out .
As Seen on TV
Watch even a few play orsitcoms , and a intimate practice come forth : tensity builds between two of the primary character . Sometimes they externally contemn one another ; sometimes they acknowledge an attraction but are keep aside by jobs , spouses , the reverence of ruining a friendship or other situations outside of their control . But whether they areFBIagents , Dunder Mifflin employee , shipwreckedcastaways , ER doctors and nurse , orvampiresand simple individual , we the watcher become confident that they are soul married person , and their story electric arc is what keeps us coming back calendar week after calendar week . Soap operas used to call them " topnotch couple , " while TV devotee boards have their own term for it : OTP , the " One reliable Pairing . " Can real - life sentence love ever measure up ?
Of course , the second these soul mate do get together , the author need to recover unexampled direction to spice thing up . And so the serious - friends - turn - lovers become ex - lovers , then serious friends again , all without permanently shattering their extended circle of friend ( see " friend , " " How I Met Your female parent " and " Grey ’s Anatomy , " to name just a few ) .
family line situation comedy and dramas from " The Brady Bunch " to " Family Ties " to " Gilmore young woman " have featured idealized parent who listen , understand and admit their error – and kids who come around to their parents ' point of sentiment within the space of an installment . These couples and families on the face of it have it all : careers , marriage , everlasting kids , witty give-and-take , fabulous social lives , and straightaway , satisfying resolution to even the most daunting problems and challenges .
At the other end of the spectrum are shows that portray one or both members of a duo in a negative luminousness . Shows like " harmonize to Jim , " " King of Queens , " and , to some extent , " Modern Family , " bank on a bumbling pop and husband inexplicably paired with an attractive , together mummy and wife , while " Married with Children , " " Roseanne " and " Malcolm in the mediate " flirt up the shortcoming of both partners .
We ’ve derive to have a bun in the oven these report from our preferred TV shows , but do they affect the way we approach real life ?
Do We Seek Out Shows That Validate Our Beliefs?
Most of us care to think we ’re smart enough to understand the difference betweenTVand reality . The good news program is that we ’re mostly correct : participant in more than one report have draw television receiver love level as " draw an unrealistic prospect of relationships based on passion , adventure and exotic situations " [ author : Osborn ] . But even as we recognize that many TV relationships are romanticized and idealized , we prefer the notion of passion and romance to the rational , " common sense " relationship that we excuse in real life [ source : Osborn ] .
investigator have even present a possible link between frequent TV viewing and unrealistic expectation about pay , workplace relationships and other running conditions . It seems that witness who ascertain the most TV are more likely to overestimate the sort ofsalaries , perks and benefits that might be extended to a Modern hire , and underestimate the level of experience or education required for certain professional occupations [ rootage : Waldeck ] .
Of course , not everything is rosy in tv set land . Whether daytime or prime time , written or realness , in some TV universes , everyone cheats , humble misunderstandings become huge blowup , and rumormonger and pettiness reign . ( We call these appearance " dramas " for a ground ! ) One report explored the role of television in shaping viewers ' mental attitude towardmarriageand find that those who determine the most television were more likely to have negative opinion toward spousal relationship . The researchers hypothesized that because viewing audience saw so few depictions of happy marriage ceremony on television , they may have begun to oppugn it as a way of life [ germ : Osborn ] . Another sketch find that college students who watched the most reality dating curriculum were more probable to express negative attitude toward dating and embrace stereotype about dating and relationships [ source : Zurbriggen ] .
So what ’s the finding of fact ? Has television really transfer our existent - life relationship expectations ? While several studies channelise toward a liaison of some kind between heavy television viewing and unrealistic expectations about wild-eyed , family and professional relationships – particularly for younger viewers with more TV experience than actual worldly concern experience – research worker stop suddenly of establishing cause and effect , instead using terms like " tie " and " correlativity " to describe the interaction between our telecasting viewing habits and our attitudes toward kinship [ sources : Osborn , Segrin , WaldeckandZurbriggen ] .
The bottom line ? We may never hump whether television in fact shapes our relationship expectations , or whether we only gravitate toward those program that reinforce our own fantasy aboutlove , work , folk and friendship .
