GTL Baby. This three letter combination which stands for gym, tanning and laundry has become a popular phrase among teenagers, especially college students. There is nothing wrong with going to the gym or doing your laundry but what about tanning? Is the Jersey Shore cast teaching teenagers that it is okay to fry your skin in tanning beds to get that Guido glow? According to Web MD, the number of women using tanning beds under the age of 30 has increased significantly. Melanoma is one of the fastest-growing cancers among whites, increasing by about 2% a year between 1997 and 2006. In 2009, nearly 70,000 Americans were diagnosed with melanoma.
“Damn, the kid’s sleeping right now. That’s what you get for talking sh*t.” In Episode 8 of Jersey Shore, Ronnie decided to get in a fist fight on the boardwalk due to a comment made about his girlfriend and co-star, Sammi. Is this teaching teenagers that it is okay to fight? Even though Ronnie had to spend a night in jail, he was out partying the next day at Club Karma. But some fights do not have the same care free ending. On April 1, 2011, a 17-year old boy died due to a fist fight with another peer over a disagreement. Teen violence ending in homicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents and teenagers.
“I'm hooking up with my girl, Pauly's hooking up with his girl and ahh, we're gonna have sex, so, ya know, that's the situation.” Jersey Shore is based solely on partying, drinking and having sex. The show is filled with obscene nicknames for girls and sexual innuendos. Is this teaching teenagers its okay to go to a club, get drunk and then have a one night stand with a stranger? It is estimated that one in four college students will contract an STD during their time at school. In the larger population, this works out to 50% of people getting an STD at some time in their life. According to Women's Forum, over 45% of college freshmen who have been binge drinking and under the influence of alcohol failed to consider the usage of contraceptive aids when engaging in sexual intercourse. 15% of these students contracted and/or spread STD's amongst other college students with 7% of these infected students unaware of their condition.
These three reasons alone are enough for the infamous MTV reality serious to be canceled. Jersey Shore instills the wrong values, morals and images to teenagers. In short, tanning leads to skin cancer, pointless fights lead to deaths and random hook-ups lead to sexually transmitted diseases.
Today was a perfect day for me to stumble upon your blog. Personally, I've never given into the Jersey Shore frenzy but I have several friends who continually obsess over it. One friend even dressed up as Snookie for Halloween. It wasn't until yesterday that I decided to sit down and watch a full episode. In this episode we find out that Ronnie is cheating and making out with two girls at a bar. Today, while I was surfing through the channels again, this showed two girls getting into a physical fight. I couldn't agree with you more that this television show sets a bad example for young viewers. I'm about to graduate college and its amazing the amounts of students who get themselves in trouble. It is college and mistakes happen but shows like this do not help at all.They do nothing educational and seem to reinforce ridiculous behavior. I think they're pretty uninspiring, unproductive and the characters are especially recalcitrant. There are some shows on mtv that at least show younger people with aspirations. Jersey Shore may be entertaining because of the drama but thats pretty much all it offers.
ReplyDeleteThis show definitely puts our generation and the New Jersey kids in a bad light. I'm graduating college soon as well, and I could never see myself in any of these situations! Speaking of situations, The Situation is a guy who should NOT be famous for being on this show, and yet people are shelling out money left and right for anything to do with this cast. I can't complain too much: my podcast was primarily about this show and how their presence on social media impacts travel to NJ, after all! However, many can't discern between what should stay on television, and what they should reenact themselves in real life: because of this, we see misbehavior that really reflects badly on an entire generation. MTV needs to do a Real Life: I Was a GTL Wannabe! show or something, to dissuade people from believing this is tolerable behavior. However, what does this say about us as a society, since this show could have been looooong canceled, had people refused to watch!
ReplyDeleteNweymarn: Actually Jersey Shore was created after a MTV True Life Jesey Shore episode which was one of their most popular to date.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do agree that Jersey Shore offer’s kids no good values or has any redeeming qualities, the show isn’t really that much worse than tons of shows before it. The Real World started out as such a promising show that tackled real life issues. Today it’s nothing more than a house where 7 strangers drink and have relations in. It seems like every cable network on TV has at least one “reality” show where normal values are nowhere to be seen. Shows like ‘Jerseylicious” “Real Housewives of” and “Keeping up with the Kardashians” all offer nothing of value yet are watched by millions of people. They portray skewed versions of real life which if taken seriously could potential be damaging to those watching.
You make some great points about why Jersey Shore should be taken off the air but if it were would it really make a difference? The fact that 5 million people have seen an episode says that there would be a clone of the show instantly once it were to be taken off the air. I think to really make a difference would be for people to boycott a show; nothing cancels a show faster than bad ratings. Good Post however and I can’t say I disagree with any of your 3 points.
Although I despise the show, and believe it is an insult to the Italian race, I firmly believe that this show is displaying how teenagers act these days and not simply promoting it. Before the television series, we had all of these problems; however, now that it is on air media conglomerates want to exploit the fact that this is how teenagers act in society today. Even parents watch the show like it's a new way to find out what is hip for the younger generation. Sure the show does exploit sex, partying, and violence, but this is the world we live in today and simply taking a video camera and placing it on television will not change how youngsters act. The reason I disagree with you is because blaming media outlets or video games is the easy way out of explaining how society is wrong instead of a parent sitting down and teaching that child that displaying lewd conduct is inappropriate.
ReplyDeleteI hate the Jersey Shore and am one of the people that simply refuses to watch it. I am from New Jersey and spend my summer "down the shore." These days, I practically cringe when I tell people I am from the state because I feel that I am automatically judged. New Jersey has always had a negative stereotype and this TV show has made it even worse (the people aren't even from NJ). Seaside Heights, NJ, where the show is filmed, has never really been that classy of a place, but since the airing of the show it has gotten a lot worse. I decided to give the popular prom-weekend town a visit this summer and found it to be way too crowded with tourists. It's such a shame that television is polluted with this nonsense. Even more ridiculous is that the stars of the show get paid money for being absolutely stupid.
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