 |
| Definitely my best of the Real Housewives franchise - November, 2022 |
Good evening beautiful people,
I recently pitched this piece but it did not get a home so I will share it here, and hopefully repurpose it someday for a research paper or something along these lines - How Reality TV Confessionals Helped Shape the Trauma Dumping Trend : Exploring the intersection of reality TV, social media, and the emotional cost of unfiltered sharing.
The reality tv genre has evolved since it was popularized in the 1990s. Technological advancements, the ever-changing changing media landscape and emergence of social media are some of the drivers of this evolution and growth. Today, we have a reality show for almost every aspect of life - from family dynamics in polygamous and polyamorous households to competitions for money, love, and food set in exotic islands and remote jungles.
One thing that has, however, remained consistent through the years is the confessional segment of reality shows. Confessionals are moments in these shows where participants share their emotions and reactions, often in response to prompts from the production team. Participants are usually filmed alone - away from other cast members - and they speak straight into the camera about other participants or certain events.
The segments provide an opportunity for the audience to get insights in what feels like one-on-one conversations with the cast members. From a production standpoint, confessionals help in storyline development and provide marketing bits for both on television and across social media.
While reality tv is primarily made for tv, it plays out on social media a lot. From marketing snippets from production to memes and discussions by audiences. This consumption of people's daily lives has subconsciously influenced content creators into filming their own lives in the form of "day in my life" vlogs that document aspects of their lives without the live drama (conflict and competition) that accompanies reality tv.
Another trend inspired by reality tv is the "sharing my truth" narrative, which follow the confessional format. Content creators speak directly into the camera, and share deeply personal details, often ending up in tears.
Some individuals see this as a form of emotional release and building valuable connections, while others see it as a way of seeking validation or even monetize their experiences. When sharing is done excessively without any care for how much the audience can handle and no plans to seek professional help, it crosses into what is popularly referred to as trauma dumping.
Though not a psychological concept, trauma dumping has negative mental health consequences for both the sharer and the audience. According to Davis (2022), oversharing unprocessed emotions can heighten vulnerability for the sharer while inadvertently burdening the audience. Gillespie (2021) echoes this, emphasizing that repeated exposure to such content can lead to emotional fatigue and desensitization among viewers.
If no interventions are made, the cycle of sharing and getting reward either through validation or financially can become addictive. While they provide a type of high, their impacts are short term as they do not address the underlying issues that leads one to continuously overshare.
Awareness is the first step for those stuck in this cycle. Public education on mindful sharing should be a key focus by public health practitioners. To meet the demand of those who might need help, mental health systems should be attached to social media platforms to provide spaces for safe expression to share in structured therapeutic spaces.
Social media platforms should adjust algorithms to discourage trauma driven content - and its subsequent monetization. Although the trend of trauma dumping borrows from reality TV confessionals, it is important to recognize that the stakes are higher when individuals share such content without a team or structure in place to support them through their emotional journeys.
