Listen to Ross and Burbank weekdays on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM
 Ross+Burbank


Most popular
Help us build a Fisher House
Bonneville Seattle is raising funds for the construction of a second Fisher House at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma and we need your help.

Can TV shows change a nation's values?

BY Jamie Skorheim  on June 13, 2012 @ 11:58 am (Updated: 3:03 pm - 6/13/12 )

cedargrove

Are TV shows like "iCarly" and "Hannah Montana" causing a shift in youth values. (AP Photo/file)

Are kids TV programs focusing on fame and fortune chipping away at the values of community and family?

A mom who observed her daughter's favorite TV programs, like "Hannah Montana" and "iCarly," focused a lot on fame, decided to take a closer look at the impacts that might have.

Deseret News reports mom, and doctoral student, Yalda Uhls and her colleague, Dr. Patricia Greenfield, conducted a survey asking people to identify the top values from popular TV shows spanning the past five decades.

Their research found that after 2007, "fame" was identified as the top value on the TV shows. In previous decades, their survey showed "community feeling" was the strongest theme.

Today's top TV value was also recognized as a major aspiration for tweens that were part of a follow-up study. When asked which of the values considered in the TV show survey they were most interested in achieving, between, "fame," "achievement," "image," "community feeling," and "benevolence," 40 percent of the teens listed "fame" as their first goal.

97.3 KIRO FM Ross and Burbank Show host Dave Ross points out that fame today is not necessarily linked to achievement.

"The idea that seems to have taken over now," says Ross, "is being famous whether there is an objective reason for you to be famous or not, like achieving something, achieving the Nobel Prize, or winning at a sports event."

Achieving fame today can be as easy as posting your cat in a bathing suit on YouTube, says Ross.

"The generation raised on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter looks up to people who attract an audience, fictional or otherwise," says the Deseret News article.

Ross points out kids get a lot of validation today from sources that weren't part of the equation before.

"The validation that a lot of young people are getting today is from some sort of screen, some sort of display, not from actual people that you touch and interact with everyday," says Ross. "If that's the currency of self esteem now, then of course all you can do to gather more of that currency is to get hits on your website or your Facebook page."

Uhls points out to Deseret News, "A lot of social media is really about a focus on the self."

"Some experts think the new television landscape, populated by celebrities in their own world and the outside one, is both reflecting and contributing to a larger shift in youth culture, where fame for fame's sake is the highest of aspirations, and success of the self is to be prized above all," says the Deseret article.

Curley says if there really is a shift in this direction, it's not a good thing.

"If you continue to raise a generation of narcissists that all they do is care about themselves, and not think of community, and not think of raising a family, and are unable to instill values that keep us strong as a nation, then we are in trouble," says Curley.

By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor

Jamie Skorheim, MyNorthwest.com Editor
Whether it's floating on Green Lake, eating shrimp tacos at Agua Verde, or taking weekend drives out to the Cascades, she loves to enjoy the Pacific Northwest lifestyle as much as humanly possible.
More Ross and Burbank

MyNorthwest.com - Purpose of Comments statement
Bonneville Media encourages site users to express their opinions by posting comments. Our goal is to maintain a civil dialogue in which readers feel comfortable. At times, the comments can descend to personal attacks. Please do not engage in such behavior. We encourage your thoughtful comments which: have a positive and constructive tone, are on topic, are respectful toward others and their opinions. Bonneville reserves the right to remove comments which do not conform to these criteria.

Comments (5)


  • Add A Comment

  • Paul Kersey wrote...
    that's very perceptive of Curley...
    June 13, 2012 4:44 pm
    a generation of narcissists like he describes could be so self indulgent as to elect a fellow narcissist to lead the country. Oh wait...that's already happened....and we are in trouble. Let's see what Moe and Larry's have to say, maybe they can tell us something we don't already know.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • awbitf wrote...
    What presidential hopeful in this age
    June 14, 2012 8:36 am
    ISN'T a narcissist? Can you name any recent federal politician that hasn't been in it for the fame or money?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cdbtx wrote...
    What more disturbing
    June 13, 2012 6:07 pm
    is how many Americans get their news from Jon Stewart? The kids are just following their parents examples.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • awbitf wrote...
    that Jon Stewart stat is a goose chase
    June 14, 2012 8:34 am
    It's not really about what Jon Stewart is doing, it's just that the younger generation doesn't watch TV news. Why spend 30 or 60 minutes to be read the news that is already old with advertising woven in when you can just check you social media feeds to be informed in less than 3 minutes? Given how blatantly biased cable news is, what's the point?

    Ever noticed the advertisements during TV news? Arthritis medication, AARP propaganda, Senior Housing Living... advertisers get it-- young people don't watch TV news because it's not relevant to them. TV News is the next newspaper industry, they just don't believe it yet.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • messiah101 wrote...
    Narcissists
    June 14, 2012 10:29 am
    Are who make up the GOP. Its me me me,not we,we,we.They haven't caught on to the concept that United we are stronger.Some who will never be successful actually believe that the Rich should pay less tax because they feel they will be Rich some day.How dumb is that?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }