When I was younger I loved courtroom dramas on television. I‘d love the suspense, the case-solving discovery by the local policeman, or the surprise witness in the back of the courtroom. It would wrap up neatly in 60 minutes time with the evil party receiving the punishment they deserved. When I got older, I was surprised to discover that real-life courtrooms look very different from Hollywood courtrooms. There are no surprise witnesses called to the stand from the back row of the courtroom or smoking guns found the night before a defendant takes the stand. Hollywood has changed the scene to create better drama and television.
But this is not uncommon for television to shift our view of reality.
Consider these other 51 Untruths That I’ve Learned From Television.
- Law enforcement departments hate working together. Someone will always pull rank or jurisdiction.
- Dumpsters prove to be amazingly soft landing zones.
- Good guys always win in the end.
- Everyone in America lives in a 30′ X 30′ bedroom.
- It is entirely normal for groups of complete strangers to spontaneously burst into perfectly choreographed but entirely random song and dance.
- Bad guys have terrible aim.
- The best chefs cook with exact ingredient portions stored in glass bowls.
- Most police forces and hospital staffs are full of sexual tension.
- Families typically sit on just three sides of the table.
- Republicans and Democrats never, ever work together.
- Most arguments can be quickly settled by delivering a really big kiss on the mouth.
- Chicks fall head-over-heels for guys who use the right deodorant or hair product.
- This week’s sporting event is absolutely going to be the biggest game of the Century.
- Promiscuous sex has incredibly few negative side affects.
- Cars always stay clean, turn sharp, and start on the first try.
- Homicides are far more entertaining than you’d think.
- Reality TV stars live a far different ‘reality’ than I do.
- Ventilation systems prove to be great hiding spots.
- A better credit card is the best answer to my personal debt crisis.
- Explosions look spectacular, but rarely cause harm to actual persons.
- When you’ve gotten the information that you need from a phone conversation, you can just hang up without saying goodbye and nobody seems to mind.
- Parties are always better with Coca-Cola, Pepsi, or Dr. Pepper.
- Babies are born the size of 5-month old infants.
- Heartbroken girlfriends always return to the place you first met.
- Kids will play all day long with plastic toys… especially ones modeled after TV characters.
- Fast food restaurants are typically full of slender, attractive patrons.
- The best way to get work done in the office late at night is to order pizza.
- The more blades on my razor, the more often my wife will caress my face in the bathroom.
- The newest kitchen gadgets will automatically improve my cooking.
- If you aren’t seeing cars fly off cliffs, you’re not looking hard enough…cause there’s apparently a lot of ‘em.
- You won’t get in trouble if you are sincere about your intentions.
- Any woman running for her life in high heels never thinks to take them off.
- Cars and trucks that crash will almost always burst into flames.
- Broken families are more comical than tragic.
- My friends and I can always meet at the same restaurant and get the exact same table.
- The older brother is always unintelligent… just like his dad, while the youngest child is always the cutest.
- Television can teach my children the A-B-C’s better than me.
- While running for your life, there is always time for a romantic moment.
- Lawyers always have a surprise witness up their sleeve that nobody in the courtroom knows about.
- It’s apparently not awkward for 1 guy to be dating 25 women living in the same house.
- This current bill being debated in Congress will ruin our country forever.
- Alcohol only improves life… never ruins it.
- Villains love explaining their detailed plans to heroes caught in traps.
- Your health problems can be easily cured with new prescription medication.
- New cars are totally worth the investment.
- During the day, it almost always rains in cemeteries.
- Back taxes are apparently pretty easy to get out of… if you just call the right people.
- Rich people have more fun.
- My teeth would be whiter if I switched toothpaste.
- Non-married couples have better sex.
- This next purchase will make me happier.
Perhaps courtrooms are not the only examples of television misrepresenting reality… perhaps it has been shifting our view of reality all along… and perhaps these untruths have been affecting our lives far more than we’d like to admit.
Perhaps their greatest success is making us believe it’s just harmless entertainment.
Here’s a helpful article I wrote on how to limit screen time for kids.
Sarah says
34. Broken families are more comical than tragic.
Sorry, but my family was far more tragic when my parents were married. Neither of them were bad people, but they were not good together. The best decision my mother could have made was to divorce my father, and I’m glad she had the strength and wisdom to leave. Her leaving my father taught us that all actions have consequences, and also taught us how important it is to be able to take care of yourself.
Jennifer says
52. Killing someone is easy, so neat and clean. Just a bullet or two is all it takes, or just strangle them for a few seconds. In reality, I know of a person who was shot with 83 bullets, and LIVED. It takes up to ten minutes to strangle a person to death, not ten seconds. People usually do not die easily.
53. It’s easy to hit your target with a handgun, just hold up a gun (sideways is best) and pull the trigger. Everything about that statement is false.
Jonathan @ punchlifeintheface says
I think my favourite one is:
A guy can be an absent-minded, uncaring lover for the majority of a relationship, but as long as he makes one big romantic gesture, the girl will stay with him.
Susan Child says
And ad concept that make me crazy is…
Husbands/Dads are dumb. They don’t understand how life (or wifi) works and need it explained to them by their wives and children.
Melissa says
So true! Dumb Husband can’t figure out Turbo Tax and wife verbally berates him… Dumb Husband walks in with muddy feet so wife rolls her eyes and makes fun of him. The most influential thing to me (for kids) is how disrespectful and sarcastic they speak to adults and teachers in these shows. The kids run the school and the Dumb Principal is a joke. It only seems harmless until you hear sarcasm and disrespect in real life and suddenly it’s not funny any more.
Micheal says
I think that we need to remember what is harmless, or nearly harmless, in small doses can be fatal in larger and more frequent doses — Arsenic comes to mind.
Amber Snow says
Funny post, the untruths, but I would say most of that *is* harmless. As someone who’s lived the past 3 years without television, I agree that it definitely has the ability to negatively impact your life. But the recent rise of Netflix and Hulu streaming, I’ve found myself enjoying a show on-line from time to time, and do believe that – in moderation – it is pretty harmless and quite entertaining. It’s easy to blame a big glowing box for a skewed view of reality, but for those who don’t allow themselves to be sucked in, it can be fun to watch every now and then.
Living the Balanced Life says
Amber,
We are the same way. We have not had access in years, but now watch a few shows via Hulu and Netflix. I enjoy being able to control what I am watching, although we do still have some commercials to contend with.
Bernice
Tanja Hoagland says
Hey Amber, I was a total tv junkie growing up. I think it did affect my perceptions because it was what I knew of reality. All the kids in my school were tv junkies too, so we were all learning from the same teacher.
I do watch netflix in moderation….I’m currently working through some ancient x-files episodes. ;)
laura says
Oh Scully and Moulder!! That was a great show!
Radiomomrhetoric says
…and sometimes I have to remind myself that my severe limiting of screen time for my kids is ok. Sometime I get the strangest looks when my kids tell people…only on weekends.
–Angela’s …{As a parent, I realize now why my parents took an active role in monitoring what we watched on TV. Shows (or books) are not evil, they are fiction, and as long as parents explain the difference between fantasy and reality AND let their kids pretend on their own} is right on for me!
Angela says
Along with #23 “Babies are born the size of 5 month old infants”, there is also the perception that all labours are excruciatingly painful, and all women having babies yell and scream at their partners.
As a parent, I realize now why my parents took an active role in monitoring what we watched on TV. Shows (or books) are not evil, they are fiction, and as long as parents explain the difference between fantasy and reality AND let their kids pretend on their own, the TV is not the negative thing it might be if kids draw their own conclusions about what is real.
Daniel M. Wood says
Most things we learn from TV are not true, just look at your last two points:
Non-married couples have better sex.
This next purchase will make me happier.
Not True!
We tend to swallow everything because it has been on TV, it is when we learn to see what is real and what is fiction that we really start to learn.
gareth zahir-bill says
you do know that this is not a serious article don’t you?
Megyn @ Minimalist Mommi says
I agree with all of the things about commercials. However, all of the ideas about characters and plots is also true for books. I hate that TV always gets the blame when books are just as guilty for providing an altered sense of reality.
The real problem is to be smart than the the TV show/movie/book. TV shows/movies can be seen as art, if you let them. The acting. The writing. The wardrobe. The lighting. The sets. I just wish others could see the beauty they hold instead of blaming them instead of themselves for getting so wrapped up in fiction.
Sonia says
I see both sides of this. Variety and quality abound in movies and books, but actively searching is a requirement. TV itself does not provide copious quantities of quality viewing for me. I purchase inexpensive books and movies online and bypass commercials and mindless viewing time.
Faith | Minimalist at Home says
Too funny! Although I’m ashamed to say that #37 “Television can teach my children the A-B-C’s better than me” was true in my case. At least my oldest managed to pick up the ABC’s as well as some Spanish (thanks to the annoying repetition of Dora the Explorer) before I even realized it.
Definitely passing this lost along. Thanks for the smile!
Shoshanna Swan says
“before I even realized it.” you said. That’s the SCARY part of TV and children. I’ve learned that NOW, 22 yrs and 2 boys LATER. My view of child rearing has taken a U-turn concerning what’s ‘important’ and what isn’t. May all young mothers realize the HUGE impact even a word spoken has on the young minds that are intent on learning everything they come in contact with. In the first two years of life, a child learns thousands of times faster – they are living informational sponges – no wonder the Scripture teaches “Train up a child in THE WAY he should go, and when he is old he will NOT depart from it”.