Big Brother and Its Mental Health Influence
Chapter One
Objective of the Study
This study was designed to examine the influence of Big Brother Africa reality television show on youths particularly students of University of Lagos. The objectives are:
- Find out the perception of University students of Big Brother reality televisionprogrammes.
- Determine the effects Big Brother reality televisionprogrammes have on University Students and the society.
- Ascertain if the gender of University students affects theirperception of reality programmes on television.
Find out how Big Brother reality television stars influence University Students.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Reality TV Show: Meaning and Overview
Reality TV shows definitions by various scholars such as Roscoe (2001) and Malekoff (2005) reflect that they are programmes where real people are often placed in extraordinary situations where their every moment is recorded as they react to their surroundings. (see https://www.academia.edu/2103540/The_Africa_in_Big_Brother_Africa_Reality_TV_and_Afric an_identity_by_Rosemary_Chikafa_and_Pauline_Mateveke). It is a genre of television programme in which real-life occurrences are transmitted unscripted. Usually TV cast used for such programmes are unknown to the public. It is a type of “television programme that document unscripted situations and actual occurrences, and often feature a previously public unknown cast (Wikipedia n.d.). Roscoe (2001) notes that in reality TV shows, the conventional boundaries between fact and fiction, drama and documentary and between the audience and the text are blurred (see: Chikafa & Mateveke 2012). This genre of entertainment has become the latest fan favourite especially among youths world over (sack, 2003; Frisby, 2004; Howley, 2004) cited in (Chikafa & Mateveke 2012), and has gradually made inroads in Africa. Andrejevic, (2004), 2005; and Kilborn, 2003) cited in Biltereyst (2004) agree that reality television is an umbrella term that encompasses “various factual television formats with a high reality claim, it stresses the actions and emotions of real people (non-actors), often using a combinations of ‘authentic’ (e.g police, security or surveillance images), and staged images (e.g. fictionalised reconstructions, post-faction interviews)” (see: Chikafa & Mateveke 2012).
Reality television is significantly proving to be a favourite among the youth – particularly those who fall within the 18-25 age range (Chikafa & Mateveke 2012). The duo cite Baumgardner, (2003; Brasch, (2003) and Hiltbrand, (2004) as saying that such TV shows that hitherto exhibited in the United States and many Western countries have now flooded our TV stations as we now have the African versions of the American Fear Factor, The Biggest Loser and the American Idols.
Nigeria also has ‘The Gulder Ultimate Search, The MTN Project Fame, Nigeria Got Talents, Glo Naija Sings, Maltina Dance All, among others’. Other African countries also have versions of these shows under different names. One of the biggest and perhaps the most popular reality TV shows in the African continent is the Big Brother Africa with an estimated viewership of more than forty million across Africa (http://www.bigbrotherafrica.com).The subject has continued to gain scholarly attention in recent time. VanZoonen & Aslama (2006) had looked at the history of Big Brother, its significance to the media and how it derives strength from its generic hybridity. Andrejevic (2004) connects the technological innovations of Big Brother to the wider cultural work of ‘being watched’ and associates the surveillance culture to the popularity of Big Brother. Roscoe (2001) specifically notes that Big Brother is constructed around performance because cameras force the participants to perform for the audiences as well as the other housemates so as to avoid nomination. Roscoe also shows how Big Brother assumes its audience to be highly media literate and adolescents and young adults seem to fit this category of audiences. All these play a significant role in debating the localisation of Big Brother in Africa (see Chikafa & Mateveke 2012).
The above mentioned studies show the global thrust of the Big Brother format as if to affirm that its localisation to Africa is ill-fitting. Mano and Willems (2008, 2010) shed light on this aspect through the engagement of an identity debate in Big Brother by Diasporic audiences. Their study explores how diasporic communities are represented in mainstream media and how they interpret, accept or challenge and interact on representations of themselves. Their discussion of Mukhosi Musambasi, a Zimbabwean nurse in Britain who featured in the British Big Brother show,focuses on discussions on Zimbabweanness by Zimbabweans in the Diaspora on internet forums. Their study revealed that the identity tag is attached to representations of communities concerned and they respond to representations of themselves through that same paradigm. It is significant that the embodiment of the representation lives up to the setstandards or faces rejection, as is reflected in the rejection of Musambasi after her raunchysexual escapades which were then labelled un- Zimbabwean (see: Chikafe and Mateveke, 2012).
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
The study adopted the survey research design as it helped in gauging perceptions on BIG BROTHER and its mental influence by students in Nigerian Universities. This design was specifically used to elicit the response of University Students on the perception of the reality television programmes.
Population
A study population is a group of elements or individuals as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitute of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description (Prince Udoyen: 2019).
The population of the study comprises all the regular students of University of Lagos Besides having a good number of Nigerian youths in these institutions, the study requires the views of an informed population who, to some extent, are knowledgeable in what they watch on television and are able to give authoritative and informed analysis about them, hence the choice of university students. The total population of the study is 219,064.
sample size and technique
Following the sample size of 400 as obtained using the Taro Yamane’s formula; a purposive sampling method was used to arrive at the final respondents selected from each of the six strata of the population.
This was done to ensure that the researcher gave the questionnaire to persons whose opinion will be relevant to the study and who have knowledge of reality television programmes.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
This segment of data presentation and analysis focuses on responses obtained from 388 respondents in University of lagos Nigeria. The researcher developed the University Students Perception of Big Brother reality television Questionnaire (USPRTQ).
The instrument was a 24-item questionnaire divided into three sections. Section A focused on demographic variables; section B had questions on thematic variables on Television and Big Brother reality television Programmes, while section C centred on thematic variables on University Students perception of Big Brother reality television Programmes. Details of data obtained from the survey are presented below (Table 1).
Table 1: Frequency of watching Big Brother reality television Programmes.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
CONCLUSION
Based on the above findings, the following conclusions are reached.
That Big Brother reality television programmes have serious influences on audience members as they (audience) desire to be like the people they watch in the programmes and this is what often spurs the young audience members into wanting to become stars like the ones they watch.
Big Brother reality television programmes have become platforms for a successful life for many young people because, after seeing their friends or neighbours becoming stars through the programmes, all they desire is to be stars. It also gives them the platform to exhibit or showcase their talents which ordinarily may have taken time to nurture and maintain. This has also made other young people believe that they too can become stars if they participate in such Big Brother reality television programmes.
To a great extent, many Big Brother reality television audience members do believe that what they watch on the programmes are real life situations and not mere acting. This is supported by Raghuvanshi who notes that “many behavioural experts say that young minds (especially girls) are often influenced by what is shown in these shows, and they forget that most of the instances shown are scripted.”
Big Brother reality television programmes enable people to learn things about others because when the audience watch the contestants, they pick some tricks or attitudes from them. This also underscores the cultivation analysis of Albert Bandura that heavy television watchers are likely to exhibit characters or traits like those they watch on television.
It is evident from the study that University students are ardent watchers of Big Brother reality television as they were found to watch different Big Brother reality television programmes and very often.
Recommendations
Given the findings and conclusions reached, the following recommendations are put forward.
Since Big Brother reality television programmes have serious influences on audience members as they desire to be like the people they watch in the programmes, audience members must observe caution while watching the programmes because not all that happens in the programme are real (devoid of acting).
Since Big Brother reality television programmes enable audience members to learn things about others when they watch contestants in the programmes, television regulators must ensure that Big Brother reality television programmes aired on Nigerian television stations are those capable of impacting positive lifestyles on Nigerians, especially University students.
Since Advertisers pay television bills, regulators must ensure that producers do not allow the commercial interest of advertisers to influence what they produce or put as the content of reality programmes with a view to avoiding the exploitation of young minds that only when they become reality TV stars will they be fulfilled in life.
REFERENCES
- Andrejevic, M. (2004). Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
- Baumgardner, N. (2003). Reality game shows thrive. Retrieved November 10, 2003 from, dailybeacon.utk.edu/article.php/9243
- Big Brother Africa (n.d). In Wikipedia. Retrieved on August 10, 2014 from htt://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brother…
- Biltereyst, D. (2004), Media Audiences and the Game of Controversy, In I. Bondebjerg & P. Golging (Eds.), European Culture and the Media (pp. 117-137), Portland, OR: Intellect Books.
- Brasch, W.M. (2003). Reality blights. Retrieved November 20, 2003, from, http:// facstaff.Bloomu. Edu/brasch/abc.htm
- Campbell. K. (2004). “Terrorist attacks on America diminished the popularity ofreality TV, “ In K Balkin (Ed). Reality TV (pp. 20-21), Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press.
- Chikafa, R. and Mateveke, P. (n.d). The ‘Africa’ in Big Brother Africa: ‘Reality’ TV and African identity. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/2103540/The_Africa_in_Big_Brother_Africa_Reality_TV_and
