What is interesting about watching dating shows? Does it really make sense that many people care more about the romantic relationships of people on TV than they do about their own? I do not think it does because it seems like reality dating shows are a way for people to escape their own reality. People want to live vicariously through the lives and experiences of these television stars, and they forget to live their own lives. This genre of TV entertainment is potentially dangerous to the social skills of viewers because they may become content to watch others live their lives and have no desire to do anything with their own lives.

I understand that it is fun and entertaining to escape reality for the length of a 30 minute program and watch others live their lives, but people do not realize how dangerous it is to become addicted to these shows. People begin to religiously watch TV shows like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, and they become so caught up in how “Ali and Roberto’s” romance is going, or why “Brad and Emily” split, that they forget to have relationships of their own. These TV shows also make people feel like their own lives and relationships are not good enough because they see couples on dating shows jetting off to Fiji for a romantic, beach-side dinner date. Viewers begin to expect things like that in their own lives, and suddenly, their own relationships are inadequate. This is one of the two possible circumstances that can result from becoming addicted to dating shows. The other would be that people only watch these shows to live vicariously through the relationships of the stars on the shows. Neither of these scenarios is healthy, especially because people do not realize how unrealistic most dating shows really are.

Unless you are dating a millionaire with a private jet, your chances of a first date being a romantic dinner on a beach in the Caribbean are next to zero. Things like this are unrealistic for the people on the show, and for the viewers. The people on the shows expect things like this even after the show is over, and a regular normal date seems inadequate because it is not being helped along by the romance of the candles and the beachside atmosphere. Viewers also begin to believe that their own relationships are inadequate, and begin to question whether a relationship without these things is even worth it. Expectations like these are unhealthy and potentially dangerous because they are unrealistic and you will always be disappointed. The people in the shows also come to expect this, and that is why nearly all of the couples on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette have broken up.

People who are for these shows would argue that they give people an opportunity to meet a potential boyfriend or girlfriend that they would not have met otherwise, but people have been finding each other and having successful relationships for way longer than dating shows have been around. They are unhealthy for the people on the shows because after the show, they come to expect things in a relationship that are not realistic. They are also unhealthy for viewers because they come to expect similar things in their own relationships, and because they start to live vicariously through people on the shows and forget to live their own lives. Overall, dating shows do much more harm for the people involved than they do good.