As an example of the things that parents and youth workers can teach, The Center for Media Literacy has proposed five guidelines that youth should know about television as a starting point for teaching deconstruction. The world of television is not authentic. TV entertainment is fantasy. Dogs don't talk, people don't get shot by armor piercing bullets and live, and everything doesn't work out for the best in 30 minutes. Even news shows can be guilty of presenting an unrealistic world.
Television teaches that some people are more significant than others.
It distorts our image of people. Often, unrealistic and biased views of people and groups are presented. Youth need to learn to authentically challenge generalizations and stereotypes to evaluate others, their actions, and their motives. Television is repetitive. TV writers and producers use the same situations, character types, and plot twists to arouse the same emotions in us over and over again.