Hopes and dreams at what price - Are we misleading the next generation?

Everyday we are bombarded with celebrities and success stories that it's easy to forget about the people that don't make it.Those that do get to live their dreams aren't always the perfect example either... I suppose it's easy to say "you can do it, never give up" when you have it all but is it really fair to mislead youngsters into thinking they will soon have the world at their feet? TV shows like The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent give the impression that regardless of how little talent you have, you can still be a "celebrity". How does that effect people mentally? Once you have your five minutes of fame you can be dropped, just like that. Do people not realise that's a difficult thing to cope with?

There are genuinely talented teenagers out there but if the public can't laugh at them are they viewed as worthless? These people don't think they need a plan B, they're splashed over newspapers and magazines for weeks and then their time is up and it's back to stacking shelves in Asda.

For example Leon Jackson; everybody loved him and he actually won The X Factor and hundreds of thousands of people voted for him. His debut single, a cover, was the fastest selling single of 2007 and reached Christmas No.1. Leon's debut album came out a year later but sold a lot less than expected and Sony dropped him. Aren't the judges meant to care about their acts? They brag to the cameras about how much the contestants mean to them but it's obviously all false.

Look at Popstars:The Rivals in 2001, the singing hopefuls were on TV for weeks while the public voted for their favourites to make it into the pop groups; Girls Aloud (girls) and One True Voice (boys). After the final the groups were told all about how ridiculously successful they'd be and how far they'd already come. Girls Aloud, right enough, did become an extremely successful and respected girl group. However, you can't say the same for One True Voice. Reading this can you even remember what they looked like or what their debut single sounded like? The worst part for them must have been seeing the girls that won the show alongside them going off and living the dream which was right fully theirs. In the mean time 'One True Voice' disappeared into obscurity. One member Daniel Pearce didn't give up though. Eight years later, in 2009, he auditioned for The X Factor. He got through and was on TV again but at the Judges' Houses round before the live finals he was axed. How must he have felt to be "chosen" by the judges knowing he was close yet again to his dream only to be dropped...was this just a "heart strings" moment to keep the public gripped. Daniel has now said at the age of 33, he has finally given up. Where will he be in another ten years?

It's easy to forget about the "washed up" ones but there are countless stories like this and it's not their fault. Someone is handing them their dream on a plate, the excitement, the hype, especially for teenagers doesn't leave time to step back and realise it's not real and could actually be the start of an experience that will scar them for the rest of their lives.