Teen Pregnancy

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Teen Pregnancy In the Spotlight

Kiley Landusky – November 21, 2011

Hit TV shows thought to set examples for teens

A hot topic used as the basis for increasingly popular television shows is teen pregnancy.16 & Pregnant, and Teen Mom shown on MTV (Music Television) feature the stories of young mothers during and after their pregnancies.

These shows have been said to “glamorize” teen pregnancy and make it out to be simpler and easier than it actually is. Granted, the stars of Teen Mom earn approximately $60,000 to $65,000 a season, not a bad salary for a young adult.

Based on what is portrayed on TV, pregnancy may seem appealing to teens since the stars receive a good amount of money and fame without having to attend or graduate college. It has recently been debated whether or not these shows have a lasting effect on teenage viewers (positive or negative).

Certainly these shows are somewhat informative and give an idea of what life would be like with a child at a young age, but do not seem to urge teens to get pregnant. The idea of a show inspiring pregnancy is a laugh to Brittany Simms.

Simms is expecting a baby girl sometime this month and knows first hand what it is like to be pregnant as a teen, at eighteen years of age. She explains that she does not live the life that the TV stars do: “My life is not so glamorous. I puke, I whine, I actually worry about money.”

“The only similarity is that I’m a teenager and I’m going to be a mother, other than that, I share nothing with those girls,” Simms says, and continues that “they didn’t affect me at all, I like watching them, but not for advice or console.” Evidently the assumption that teens strive to be like those on television is incorrect, at least in Simms’ case.

In her opinion, any teen with even the least bit of common sense should “know teen pregnancy isn’t that easy and you only watch the show for pure amusement.” It is rather obvious that the situations on TV are nothing to be wished for, and it is silly to think that some teens may be persuaded to take on such a difficult lifestyle.

What Simms knows about more than any average teen is the realities of being pregnant and the major switch from normal teen life to pregnant teen life. She says that, “my life has completely flipped. I used to go out all the time, hang with friends, go to football games and movies.” Some teens may assume that life would only be changed after giving birth, but pregnancy takes away from social life more than what may be expected.

“Now, I stay at home almost every single day and I rarely see any of my old friends,” Simms says. Friends are another unexpected sacrifice in becoming pregnant. When it comes to support-givers, Simms says “the least would definitely have to be my friends.”

No one wants to think that a friend would walk away under any circumstance but sadly they do, and this is yet another hardship for teen moms. Brittany added, “no one tells you how difficult it’s going to be to lose all the friends you thought would be there through everything.”

Changing health and body also bring a large amount of difficulty to mothers. Simms says that, “the physical aspects are pretty harsh,” and continues with a long list of terrible symptoms: “I suffer from terrible morning sickness, even though I’m 37 weeks pregnant. I get really terrible heartburn and acid reflux, I developed Restless Leg Syndrome, which is so painful sometimes, my back always hurts, I’m always exhausted, it’s just all around not fun and extremely difficult.”

It is difficult to say whether those casted on Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant really paint an accurate picture of the difficulties that come with teen pregnancy. With no cameras following her or loads of cash to depend on, Brittany Simms can and does tell accurately and honestly of how extremely hard pregnancy at a young age is, and that it is nothing to strive for. Any inspiration from these popular television shows can certainly be turned around with knowledge of a normal teen mother.