Why do we like trash (although we do not admit it)?
It has been a long time since a strong complaint has been made about the contents and formats of a part of what television offers.
The concept of telebasura refers to those morbid contents, usually centered on exaggeration , that seek to entertain exhibiting situations that supposedly are not fictitious and that are painful or humiliating. Programs that do not reflect positive values, but quite the opposite.
However, and although it is strange, the telebasura like, and much . Many television channels program this type of content in the prime time slots because they want to capture as many viewers as possible.
That is, we know that the trash is not something desirable, but nevertheless our actions are not congruent with these thoughts. Why does this happen? Why do you like trash? Next I will pose possible answers.
Telebasing: offering prohibited content
If we had to highlight a defining characteristic of telebasing, this would probably be the use of morbid content that we should not be seeing from certain moral parameters. Telebasura offers us the forbidden in the comfort of our own home , and we can enjoy it alone or surrounded by trusted people.
That means that, compared to other entertainment, compete with advantage, sacrificing good image and journalistic ethics in favor of the possibility of offering what no one else offers.
The promise that with each program we will see something that will surprise us makes us think about it even during the time we spent away from the screen, and the parallel narrations about what is going to happen that we are inventing in our imagination make us want to see the real development of the story, for which we must return to the program.
Spectators addicted to morbid
It may be that the content of the trash is bad and that it is evident that it is fictitious in good part, but that does not stop us from surprising and attracting our attention. And it is our attention, always in search of novel stimuli that can take us to a state of high activation, which makes us return to these programs, as if it were a kind of dependence on a drug.
To which we become addicted with the trash, however, is not a drug, but certain substances that segregates our own body every time a narrative line is solved as we wanted and every time we see something that we enjoy, like a celebrity being ridiculous.
As we associate this state of well-being produced by these substances with the fact of watching TV, we are more interested in continuing to watch these programs. It is an impulse that goes beyond reason: although we believe that the program does not deserve our attention because its characteristics fit with those of the trash (and neither the trash nor the people who usually see telebasura usually enjoy a good image), the fact is that the body asks us to turn on the TV .
False feeling of sociability
One of the characteristics of many telebasing programs is that in their development there are recurrent people who express their opinions and beliefs in a totally direct way and, apparently, without filters. It is this supposedly honest attitude that brings out the conflict and the spectacle that is so sought after .
However, another consequence of this kind of format is that it looks a lot like a meeting of friends. The jokes and the low moral filter make the program easily comparable to what happens at a casual dinner where jokes are told and rumors spread.
In this way, when watching certain programs of telebasing, the brain can be tricked into behaving as it would in a real social context, even if it is really just watching the television. This can satisfy the need to relate to real people without exposing themselves to the annoying situations that can appear when leaving home to relate to real people.
The improvement of self-esteem
Paradoxically, the trash can make us feel better with ourselves . Why? Because it makes us believe that our imperfections are something very normal and that most people have more things to hide.
This idea is based on what is known as Cultivation Theory, according to which exposure to television (or other similar media) makes us believe that reality resembles what can be seen in those channels. Telebasing normalizes rough events and ridiculous samples , and compare with the people who appear there and who are either playing a role or just show their most tragic, scabrous or comedic, is comfortable. Something that makes us feel comfort and that makes us repeat.
