The excruciatingly public marital troubles between Jon and Kate Gosselin
reached their predictable denouement Monday when the reality television stars
announced their impeding divorce before an audience of 10.6 million. After 10
years of marriage and two years of filming "Jon & Kate Plus 8," the parents of
8-year-old twins and 5-year-old sextuplets denied that the constant intrusion
of cameras into their private life had precipitated their split or exploited
their children. And true to form, the couple assured viewers that the divorce
would not interfere with their hit cable series. As Kate Gosselin said gravely,
"The show must go on."

That stomach-churning spectacle may prove the last hurrah of this unseemly
series, which increasingly has relied on tabloid coverage of the couple's
marital woes to boost ratings. If a ratings freefall does not kill the show,
legal troubles might: Pennsylvania authorities recently began investigating a
complaint about child labor law violations involving the eight Gosselin
children, who spend long hours under the glare of the spotlight to satisfy
their parents' hankering for money and fame.

It's easy to mock the Gosselin parents and fret over their children, who never
asked to have the most painful moments of their childhood broadcast for the
world's amusement. But those children are not the only victims of shows like
this one. Our children, too, are endangered by a media culture that promotes
voyeurism as entertainment and exalts exhibitionists as role models.

In their new book, "The Mirror Effect," addiction medicine specialist Drew
Pinsky and business professor S. Mark Young argue that following the foibles of
reality TV stars and other celebrities is not a wholly harmless pastime. The
more time we spend observing the shocking, materialistic and egotistical
behavior of reality TV stars, they argue, the more likely we are to mimic that
behavior in our own lives and view the pathological self-centeredness of these
"Joe Six-Pack" celebrities as normal.

That's troubling, since most reality TV stars are anything but normal. In a
2006 study published in the Journal of Research in Personality, Pinsky and
Young used the Narcissistic Personality Inventory to assess celebrity egoism.
They found that reality TV celebrities ranked highest in narcissistic traits,
surpassing even rock stars and actors.

Reality TV's celebration of egoism and exhibitionism contributes to the
fame-at-any-cost mentality that afflicts many teenagers today. According to a
2005 survey by The Washington Post, Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and
Harvard University, nearly one-third of American teenagers believe they will be
famous someday. In Britain, a 2006 Learning and Skills Council study found that
more than one in 10 teenagers would forgo an education or training for the
chance to appear on TV, and nearly one in 10 consider fame a "great way to earn
money without skills or qualifications."

Even among younger children, that lust for fame has fueled some disturbing
trends, from "sexting" — the practice of sharing naked pictures of oneself or
others via cell phone — to the online posting of "fight videos" by bullies who
videotape themselves in the act of brutalizing their peers.

How can we curb such destructive fame-chasing? Celebrating a child's legitimate
achievements rather than his attention-getting antics is one strategy.
Enforcing child labor laws against camera-crazed parents like the Gosselins is
another.

When it comes to mitigating the effects of exploitative entertainment like "Jon
& Kate Plus 8," the simplest solution may be the one proposed by Kate
Gosselin's brother, Kevin Kreider, who recently made a public appeal on behalf
of his nieces and nephews. Urging Americans to remember that the Gosselin
children are "not fictional characters," he acknowledged that "Jon and Kate
obviously will not quit [the show] on their own."

"So please," Kreider said, "stop watching."

Colleen Carroll Campbell is an author, television and radio host and St.
Louis-based fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Her website is
www.colleen-campbell.com.