Some youths harbor a dream: to be a superstar who can stand on the stage and receive a flood of claps. Such eagerness of becoming a superstar ignites these youths to seek any opportunities to perform in front of the public. Media, promptly sensing youths’ needs and a huge market in this field, launches reality TV competitions like American Idol in US, Super Girl in China and Britain’s Got Talent in UK to fulfill these youths’ reveries in which they will be famous via media. There is no doubt that some talented singers like Kris Allen do stand out in these contests and welcome a wonderful singer career; however, no one is aware of a fact that media, like the invisible heroin, indulges an increasing amount of youths in participating in these contests, which may not bring them fame but lead them to an inextricable obsession.

One of my best friends, Nana, was a big fan of Super Girl, a renowned reality TV singing contest in China. She marveled at winners in Super Girl and always dreamed about becoming one of them one day. She always emphasized multifarious benefits of becoming a famous singer including getting numerous fashions and having thousands of fans. I could see how happy she was when she described these benefits. Then, tempted by her dream, Nana signed up for Super Girl. Nana had a wonderful voice, so she managed to enter top 50 out of more than 2000 girls in our area in the first round. To give her our sincere supports and encouragements, my friends and I decided to see her second-round performance in our city theatre. Unfortunately, she was too nervous to perform her song well and lost in this round. Afterwards, all of us came up to her and comforted her. She did feel depressed that night, but the next morning, she told me that she decided to participate in Super Girl every year until she could enter the nation’s Top 50. I gave her my best wishes, but deep in my heart, I was somehow concerned about her addiction to Super Girl. I was afraid that this young girl might in these cruel competitions lose her confidence and energy she was supposed to have at this age.

Go to YouTube and search “American Idol loser”, you will find out about 790 results. People in these videos, entertaining their dreams of becoming celebrities via media, now become entertainments for others to laugh at. We can say that they are famous in another way; nevertheless, what I believe is, everybody has a talent. If you are not talented in singing or dancing, you will have talents in other aspects and succeed with those talents in the future. However, if you are addicted to this Media brand heroin, you will forever lose yourself on your road to success.