The Anatomy of a Couch Potato

Everyday, things occur in our world that out of the ordinary. When they do, the money-seeking scavengers, dubbed as The Media scamper to publicize whatever happened interestingly, creatively, and above all, first. Why do we follow the lives and stories of bizarre and rare things so closely? Well, for that very reason; they are so bizarre and interesting that people just have to take a step back from their own lives and bask in the hilarity that bumbling celebrities and mindless reality television give us.

My take on the phenomena that is reality TV, is that people find the chance to observe other "real" people partake in things they would normally consider to be embarrassing, or tough a fun way to pass the time. Of course, challenges that test their minds, nerve, sexual prowess, the number of roses one can pass out in an hour in between commercials, sky diving abilities, sheep-intestine swallowing capacity, and a host of other such everyday tasks would be a sin to miss.

It must be the fact that people enjoy seeing others in situations that are dangerous or unnerving in real life give them a feeling of excitement. A voice in their head tells them- "This is real life, this isn't scripted or directed or anything, it must mean I'm finally getting real production value!" when in fact it should be echoing "These people are just targeting the things that we want to do, but cannot do, to gain our money, why am I wasting my time?"


In the end, we continue our lives, having acquired a few chuckles and a few afterthoughts to how the person on screen managed to stomach 20 worms in a matter of seconds. Why do we scrutinize people like Britney for EVERY goddamn thing she does. As I watched TMZ surround Britney's car like a pack of hounds, rolling off the front window while snapping pictures and barricading her so she could not reach the exit of the gas station, I wondered: "WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING WITH YOUR LIVES?" Ultimately, I can't stop people from wanting to share quality bonding time with their television in the form of a bowl of potato chips and pointless news and trivia that does themselves no good, it is their life being wasted after all.

Food for Thought.