A very special episode: how TV shows can be powerful tools for public health
Content warning: This article discusses mental health and suicide.
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TV isn’t always bad for you, explains Michaela Pascoe in this crossposting from The Conversation. In fact, sometimes it can improve lives.
We all know what we should do. We should eat well and exercise. But then there’s ice cream and alcohol and the couch …
But what if watching TV could actually be good for you — if your favourite TV show could inspire and support you to be healthier?
In 2012, on 90210 (a reboot of the 90s’ Beverly Hills, 90210), 18-year-old Erin Silver (Jessica Stroup) was confronted with the choice to test for BRCA gene mutations. Her mother died from breast cancer, and if Erin had a mutation she was at elevated risk of cancer herself.
