I ‘learned’ via TV
How a ‘real’ family functions? Brady Bunch
Live in a small town? Andy Griffith
Character traits of a boyfriend? Fonzie, Danny Zuko
Character traits of girl that gets the guy? Sandy
How to get a laugh? I Love Lucy
What’s going on in the world? Dateline
The list is forever long.
Mind you I’m 35…I don’t know if these were the typical shows kids my age were watching from ages 5-11 but I’m guessing no. I was raised by boomers…so it makes sense.
Living like this threw me head first into a world of idealism which was followed by rage when things didn’t pan out as I ‘thought’ it was meant to.
Instead of learning via tv I now use it as a means to relate to myself and others. When trying to interact with others I can often be heard saying “that makes me think of [insert name of show]” …then I badly try to explain it to them.
All in all relationships feel difficult.
Point of all this is wondering if
1) does anyone else do this and how does it show up in everyday life
2) what’s your go to show?
I find all of New Girl relatable
@BorderlineAwesome This makes perfect sense. I was brought up in a house where TV and music were my map of the world. My parents certainly were not providing me with life lessons. They tried, well one of them tried, but were too busy trying to deal with the extreme dysfunction of the other parent.
I am sure that I grew up just as the marketeers wanted. “That ain’t workin, that’s the way you do it, you play your guitar on MTV … get your money for nothin and your chicks for free.” They even admitted the purpose of my training, “… we got to move these refrigerators, we got to move these color TVs.”
Had I grown up in the 1800s my training would have been much more personal. That training might have been a lot richer and more fulfilling or perhaps just as shallow as the one I received depending on the society I grew up in. It may have even been an incredibly myopic view although if I were at a university it may have been less so.
The TV programs you were raised on were not bad compared to some of the reality TV crap we have today. I think a main ingredient in that type of programming is quick-to-judge self righteous anger. Social media amplifies that even more. We as individuals need to be careful of what we ingest and be aware of where it takes us personally and where it takes our community.
@BorderlineAwesome
You certainly are not alone many people seemed to get more from TV then real life and it is not always good.
TV wrapped up story without much struggle and no details to bog it down .....
friends always stayed and had time to meet several times a week
everyone always seemed like no had anything but short term finance issues.
I find many seem to think real life works that way and seem surprised or disappointed that real life is much more work.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately too. Like I know I’ve always been told don’t believe what you see on tv, that’s not real but it’s kind of hard not to watch tv and read books and think that’s how things are supposed to be. I wonder sometimes if the things I want in life are really even what I want or just what I think I should want because of tv and books. It’s hard to know the difference.
Also, I love New Girl!