"Adam Ruins Everything" is a popular television show on truTV. Its rise to fame is due to host Adam Conover's persistence on sharing facts that his viewers have probably never heard about. Conover might annoy his costars, but he is an overflowing well of knowledge for his viewers. Here is a list of 11 topics Conover has discussed that can relate to the average college student.
1. “Why You Don’t Need Eight Glasses of Water a Day”
Sorry to say, but you don’t actually need to lug that gallon of water with you to class anymore. Host of “Adam Ruins Everything”, Adam Conover, explains why this is not necessary. He has Dr. Tamara Hew-Butler, a professor of Exercise Science from Oakland University, join his show to explain how an individual only needs to drink so much water. Hew-Butler advises to drink water only when you are thirsty. Human beings will never overly dehydrate if they follow this guide. Conover also shows us in this segment how beverage companies have tricked consumers into being concerned about dehydration. We are shown through media that athletes need to stay hydrated with sports drinks to be healthy and perform to the best of their abilities. None of this is actually true. These ads are just shown to produce better sales.
2. “Why You Shouldn’t Donate Canned Foods to Charities”
Unfortunately, canned food drives really don’t help that Greek Life organization or the community table they load the tons of cans off to. You may feel like a wonderful, selfless, humanitarian for helping those in need, but giving away your canned foods is not the best option. About half of canned goods given to charities are thrown out due to expiration dates. Money also has to be spent for the cans to be transported. Canned food is not usually the best meal alternative either. Many products include high sodium and other poor nutritional values. Conover has the Chief Development Officer from the Westside Food Bank, Genevieve Riutort, speak about the best alternative to canned food drives. The best way to give to charities is to give them monetary donations. Charities are then able to buy proper, nutritional food at a wholesale level. Ultimately, more will be fed through your money than your canned food you donate.
3. “Why Wine Snobs Are Faking It”
It’s difficult going to the store to pick out a nice bottle of wine to later pair with the next few episodes of “Kimmy Schmidt” and a nice plate of mozzarella sticks. Your eyes will always beat out your taste buds when it comes to different bottles of wine. You will automatically be more attentive to buying a more attractive bottle that’s more expensive than the cheap brand that tastes exactly the same. Tests have been done to prove how hard it truly is to differentiate brands of wine. Conover cites an experiment done by Frederic Brochet from the University of Bordeaux. In the first test done to unsuspecting wine loving subjects, Brochet had 54 of them compare a red and white wine. They were both the same wine. The white wine was just dyed red. Another test had the subjects compare two different bottles. One was an expensive brand and the other was a cheaper brand. Both bottles were again the exact same wine. This experiment was mostly done to show that wine connoisseurs are not really necessary. Adam tells his audience to drink whatever kind of wine they like no matter the price or flavor.
4. “Why ‘Buy One, Give One’ Companies Don’t Help Anyone”
Don’t go and spend all of your paycheck on a pair of TOMS shoes to help a child from Africa “in need” just to give yourself a happy conscience. In all actuality, shoes are the last thing kids in Africa need. All that the company TOMS does for these children is give them a surplus of shoes, while not helping the issue of poverty whatsoever. Conover calls the original purpose of TOMS shoes a complete myth. Blake Mycoskie, the creator of TOMS, was originally a reality star from “The Amazing Race” and “Fox’s Sexiest Bachelor in America Pageant”. Mycoskie took a trip to Argentina and decided he would try to help those affected by poverty. Conover proves this organization’s purpose as untrustworthy when he talks with the founder of Raintree Farms in Uganda, TMS “Teddy” Ruge. Ruge calls TOMS advertising as “poverty porn”. The company has made an enormous profit by finding extreme situations in Africa and labeling them as the most common in the country. In reality, citizens of South America and Africa have more concerning issues related to unemployment and electricity.
5. “Why the Electoral College Ruins Democracy”
There is a good chance that your vote for the election last year didn’t even matter. Adam Conover begins the segment very bluntly by expressing that the smaller the state, the more power one will have with voting results. Smaller states ultimately have more control in how the election will turn out due to population counts. The Electoral College has also created swing states to screw up true democratic voting. These states are usually the ones the Presidential elects focus on the most for winning over the country entirely. The electors who are chosen after citizens cast their votes also have large say in who they want to choose for President. Certain states allow these electors to pick whichever party they want. The decision of their state has no effect on their own personal choice. To summarize, the Electoral College is highly looked down upon and many have wanted to abolish it for years.
6. “Why Facebook Isn’t Free”
College students are addicted to free websites and apps like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr. One thing college students may not know is that these free sites are not entirely free to the public. Our identities are used as virtual payment. Sites like Facebook and Google specifically log everything you do or search. They use this information to create a profile of your likes, interests, sexual preference, and habits. If this isn’t creepy enough on its own, the site then sells this information to advertisers. You now scroll through your feed with ads popping up from websites wanting you to buy their products that are made specifically for you. This world is built on consumerism after all.
7. “Why Going Outside is Bad for Cats”
Make sure that your pet cats stay inside your apartment room at all costs. Even though it is a good assumption that cats want to go outside and explore, they can get in serious risk of danger out on their own. Cats will begin to breed once they are outside around other feral cats or strays. This could end up amounting to a surplus of kittens on your hands. (The apartment policy only allows so many pets.) This breeding will then spread to the outside world and cause a massive overpopulation of homeless cats in your area. These cats end up living short lives due to the stresses of living outdoors. Conover notes as well that feral, outdoor cats kill more than 1.3 billion birds a year, which has led to 20 different species to extinction.
8. “Why Most Internships Are Actually Illegal”
Applying for an internship can be a requirement for certain majors at a university. These are used to help the college student gain necessary skills and experience to be capable of successfully applying for work after college. Conover discusses how unpaid internships are actually illegal in the case that companies can exploit younger interns for free labor. (This is usually not the case for collegiate level internships.) This can be shocking to hear, but the Department of Labor has declared this as true information. Conover calls on the 22nd United States Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, to analyze this point further. Reich shows the audience that internships are only legal if the job benefits the intern and not the employee, if it doesn’t replace any employees, and if it is genuinely educational for the intern. Conover also gives the fact that unpaid interns are at the same rate of future employment as those who have not searched for one.
9. “Why Jaywalking is a Crime”
We can all admit to getting impatient and crossing the street nowhere near a crosswalk. This may ease up time getting to the cafeteria, but it is seriously against the law. As soon as cars were invented in 1768, drivers began to get reckless and would choose to drive as fast as they wanted. Careless automobile accidents killed many children and adults alike. Laws were passed to ban cars from the streets, but companies and the Automobile Manufacturers Association wouldn’t have it. They proclaimed that streets would solely be used for cars. Those who were on the roads would be called the slanderous term, jaywalker. The blame was then swapped from the drivers to the pedestrians and jaywalking soon became a crime.
10. “Why Tipping Should Be Banned”
We’ve all worked those summer jobs in a restaurant to help pay for our tuition, apartment fees, or our food. We’ve all also learned by now how servers receive crappy tips for doing hard amounts of work. It’s absolutely horrible and inhumane. Conover downgrades tipping in America because it shortchanges servers, inconveniences customers, and usually makes the experience of the customer worse. Servers are paid less than minimum wage due to a trend set nearly a century ago. Tips were only given as bribes from customers to receive better service. Owners of restaurants caught on to this trend and began to pay servers less to benefit both the restaurant and their own needs. Conover also brings up a study done by Cornell University that revealed servers are usually tipped randomly more or less. It doesn’t depend on the worker’s quality of service.
11. “The Real Truth About Financial Aid”
Since Adam Conover usually ends his episodes on a more positive note, I have decided to do the same. Conover created a short about how financial aid and the FAFSA are incredibly important for a college student to complete. He points out that nearly everyone qualifies for financial aid. The main reason for not qualifying is if you don’t fill out your FAFSA. Conover also notes that financial aid isn’t solely based on your parents’ income. It also includes the size of your family, your oldest parent’s age, their United States’ status, and other related facts. You can also apply for the FAFSA no matter how old you are or how your final high school GPA ended up. Financial aid is beneficial no matter what unless you decide not to renew it or do it whatsoever.
