A common conception is that television controls most of the judgments made by young people. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 444 young Belgian women that examined the influence of exposure to reality TV on tanning behavior, the process of darkening skin color. Tanning behavior patterns are known to be a risk factor for skin cancer progression among young women. This study was conducted to explore whether or not internalization of tan ideals from media content and self-objectification could explain this connection. An operational equation model created by the researchers reveals that watching reality TV was linked to internalization of tan ideals and self-objectification. Of the two to three million individuals diagnosed with skin cancer each year, the majority are due to overexposure to ultraviolet radiation, which can occur through natural sunlight or indoor tanning beds. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay With a considerable number of individuals suffering the consequences of ultraviolet radiation, this hypothesis focuses on explaining tanning behaviors among female college students. Young white women's choice to expose themselves excessively to UV rays may be associated with the way appearance and sexual attractiveness are valued in Western cultures. As popular mass media is identified as the primary vector of appearance-focused messages, reality television goes further in emphasizing the importance of appearance and what establishes an ideal appearance. Exposure to these ideal body appearances could entertain young people to adopt the media appearance ideal as part of their personal appearance standards through which they feel obligated to conform. This media content that portrays women with unrealistic ideal appearances can trigger self-objectification. Self-objectification is the tendency to observe oneself from an observer's point of view, focusing exclusively on one's appearance and belittling one's personality. Harmful consequences that can result from self-objectification are eating disorders and depression. This hypothesis aims to advance academic knowledge in three ways. The first contribution is the combination of illustrative mechanisms underlying the relationship between reality television and tanning behaviors. Trying to find perspectives on body objectification in health issues research, in this case, reality television is the source of body objectification and health issues being ultraviolent exposure along with risks. This contribution of the hypothesis aims to explain how media use may be related to young people's participation in problem behaviors. The second concept intended for research in this study is the internalization of appearance ideals from media content and the connections between these conceptions. Research has been conducted previously on the internalization of appearance ideals from media content fixated on general beauty norms that consider body shape and appearance, but this particular hypothesis explores whether the internalization of appearance ideals tanned from content media can also clarify how media content entertains young women into treating their bodies like a toy. Finally, the final reasoning behind the hypothesis contributes to the literature by focusing on the reality television gene. Reality television can be/10.1080/01463373.2017.1381627