We are What We Watch! A Simple Comparison of Family TV Shows Then and Now

TV shows reflect and guide our culture and mind, the same way the type of food we ingest shapes our body. What we see influences us and the generations to come.

I have chosen a small sample of popular family TV shows to gauge each era’s values:

70's: Shows like The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie promoted family cohesion and sacrifice, community, modesty and humility, and respect and love of nature. These shows discouraged greed and excessive individualism.

Urban-based series like The Brady Bunch were less about co-existing with nature and more about spending time outdoors in activities like sports. Yet they still promoted values such as family, community, modesty, and discouraged traits such as excessive (toxic) individualism.

Fast forward to the 21st century. Popular series like Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory seem to promote individualism, indoors, technology, competition, fun and money. It is hard to find any traits or behaviors which are discouraged in new popular TV series as taboo except perhaps being prudish, overly modest, nerdish or too self-reflective or analytical.

In my upcoming books, I will discuss how the evolution of our brain has influenced our traits as a new breed of humans (Homo economicus).