Teen TV isn’t all ha ha, hee hee

Smitten by the vampire bites of Edward Cullen in New Moon — the second film in the Twilight series — or gyrating to Best of Both Worlds, sung by Miley Cyrus, aka Hannah Montana, teenagers appear to be living in the surreal shadow of popular culture. It hardly seems to matter that the 16-year-old Cyrus, who came under fire for dancing with a stripper pole at a Teen Choice Awards, was in a recent online poll voted the worst celebrity influence of 2009.

It’s one thing to be starry-eyed about celebrity teen icons from western TV series like Hannah Montana or movies like The Cheetah Girls and High School Musical; it’s quite another to try and keep up with their glamorous lifestyle. According to city counsellors and parents, tweens (pre-teens) and teens aren’t treating entertainment as, well, entertainment. They are soaking the multifarious messages it sends out like sponges, wanting desperately to play the part.

Twelve-year-old Rishabh’s parents were in for a shock when they saw him behaving like the rockstar protagonist from Hannah Montana. “Rishabh has picked up Hannah’s accent. My husband has to constantly remind him to not speak like Hannah,” says Rishabh’s mother, a south Mumbai resident.

Rishabh’s aspirations are shared by many others in his age-group. “Teenagers start identifying with what they see and want to live like that, especially when the actors are of their age,” says psychiatrist Anjali Chhabria.

Funky clothes, fancy cellphones, punk hairstyles, facial piercing, body tanning, flawless complexions and the right figure — much of what teens internalise as the quintessential perfect look stems from what they see onscreen. “The more teens see perfection around them, the more they tend to dig out imperfections in themselves. Nobody is happy with the way they look,” says Chhabria.

She says alcohol and drug addiction, depression, anxiety, premature sex, early pregnancy and personality disorders are some of the consequences that teenagers may face if they go overboard with what they see on television and the Internet.

The obsession to emulate pushes some teens to the extreme of seeking cosmetic surgery. City-based medical cosmetologist Purnima Mhatre says she turns down at least six to seven teenagers seeking corrective surgery every month. “Be it Hannah Montana or Teen Diva, the show will push teenagers towards a glamorous and perfect look,” says Mhatre. “Thin girls want to become thinner; they want thigh reduction, tummy tucks and breast augmentation. Fourteen-year-old boys want to lose weight, not by exercising but through liposuction.”

Experts also feel that the cuddly romance between under-age individuals on screen can lead teenagers into intimate relationships without them understanding the consequences. Shefali Pandey, a city-based gynaecologist, has turned down abortion requests from pregnant teenage girls. She says that too much of exposure to romance and sex can prove detrimental for the naive teen mind. “Young girls come to me asking for those perfect lips with the perfect pout so that they can get boyfriends,” says Mhatre.

“Everybody wants to be pseudo-rich — whether they have the resources or not. Teenagers want to wear branded clothes, own chic cell phones, attend high-end parties and have boyfriends and girlfriends because they think it’s cool to be in a relationship, and even cooler to have sex,” says Pandey.

Celebrity mom and actor Pooja Bedi feels that instead of over-regulating what your child watches on TV or the Internet, it’s important to sit him/her down and talk about the implications of what they are watching. “You cannot stop the rain from falling, but you can put an umbrella over your child’s head,” says Bedi. Also, given that rebellion is at its peak in this age-group, Chhabria says it is important not to impose a blanket ban on a child’s television viewing habits. Rather, it is advisable to engage the child in other fruitful activities.

Aahana Kurande, 13, was delighted at receiving a Hannah Montana kit with the mike, blonde wig et al, a Diwali present from her mother. “I like the way she balances her life as a student and as a rock star,” says Kurande, who insists that she does not get carried away unlike some other teenagers who tend to take it too far. “I have friends who dress like Hannah and even flirt like her,” she says.