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Babies Having Babies

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It’s late and I have finished all my assignments for the night. As I browse through the thousands of channels that my cable box provides me, I slow down around the MTV section, hoping that I find something that will be un-engaging because my brain is tired. I tune to MTV2 and the famous teen drama show, Teen Mom, is showing and because I see two people arguing I am instantly intrigued. The screaming match is between a mother and her daughter, a new teen mother herself, that are arguing about Janelle (the new mother) smoking marijuana, being on probation and not taking care of her child. I immediately think, isn’t this show about babies and the struggle of being a mom? I guess there a dynamic to this show; I am intrigued and I must continue to watch. As I continue viewing this program, I realize there is more to the show than just babies; this is a show with difficulties, drama and fundamental life lessons. Teen Mom, Teen Mom 2 and the Original, Sixteen and Pregnant, are shows on MTV that centers on different groups of 16-year-old mothers from different parts of the U.S. and each teenage girl is followed by cameras in their own individual story. Both Sixteen & Pregnant and Teen Mom show portrayals of struggle, as each character faces a bevy of challenges which are all related to being pregnant as a teen. By showing highly emotional programming where a young woman is getting her heartbroken in a reality setting, unscripted and raw, I believe reality television helps teenage viewers by deeply connecting with the young women on the show and therefore can rationalize their future decisions by basing what they saw on television with real life situations. It’s safe to say that at a young age, teen pregnancy (most of the time) is unexpected, scary, depressing, and complicated. Along with a young mother confronting her parents about the new life developing inside her, she now faces numerous circumstances to overcome. Sixteen & Pregnant is an informative show and provides multiple dynamic situations that are specific to teenage

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