Media Logic: "16 & Pregnant"

Today while I was with my son and his mother, we coincidently came up upon an episode of “16 and Pregnant”. I personally have never seen the show but Koren (my sons mother), was able to explain the story of each girl in the show. I want to touch on what Mike and I discussed in class and what he mentioned to the class. Mike said that “16 and Pregnant” seemed to teach us that having one child will change our lives forever and the changes we will have to make are dramatic. He said that the show seems to send the message that raising a child is very hard, and practically an impossible task. While on the other hand there are shows like “18 and counting”, and this show sends off a message that says, “Hey we have seventeen children and being parents to all 17 of them is easy and we want more children.” This show opposes the thought of “16 and Pregnant” which shows how hard it is raising one child. This falls under media logic, because the norm for us is to have children when you are older (preferably not a teenager), and have a family, similar to “18 and Counting”, and the show about the NFL kicker’s family. That is what we desire, a big family with the father, mother, and children all living happily under the same roof. While, in contrast, people do not want the life those young teenagers are living; with the fathers walking out on them and their child; or their parents on their backs telling them how to be better parents; or the teens just not being more responsible and accountable for their actions.