When you think of television, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Is it a television show, movies, or video games? In 1939, the capability of the television was proven when RCA broadcasted the opening to the New York World’s fair. On that day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first president to ever appear on television (Stevens). As you can imagine, by this time, television was new and exciting. It provided a new source of entertainment and by the 1950’s legitimate T.V shows and news broadcasts began to gain popularity. In the 1980’s, when videocassette recorders became available, a whole new world opened up for sources of entertainment. Viewers could watch their favorite films as often as they’d like, or record a television show they didn’t want to miss (Stevens). Currently, televisions are used for many different things, such as television programs, news and media broadcasts, watching movies, and playing video games. Americans are beginning to spend more time in front of their televisions either watching a show, or playing a video game. According to the 2015 American Time Use Survey, the average American spent 2.8 hours a day watching television, 41 minutes a day socializing, and only 18 minutes a day on sports or exercise (American Time Use Survey). Given these statistics, it is clear that although it was created for entertainment, television has become a necessity in homes leading to issues with health, intelligence, and providing an easy distraction to life. Television abuse can be thrown into the same category as substance abuse. Although television itself is just a piece of equipment, the technology it uses and the shows it can provide have become an easy distraction from reality.
“Television is simply automated daydreaming” – Lee Loevinger
Americans find an escape from reality in a television show, or a video game. Television isn’t a bad thing but, like alcohol it must be used in moderation. Think about it; there are 24 hours in a day, on an average week day Americans spend around 7.6 hours working in their professions (American Time Use Survey), 6-8 hours sleeping, which leaves around 8 hours of spare time for Americans to eat, exercise, study and take care of household
“Television has changed the American child from an irresistable force to an immovable object.” (Peter). There was a time when all children wanted to do was to run, play, explore, and be adventurous. As time evolved, children have found more interest in television. Statistics show that a child spends 900 hours per year in school,and they spend 1,200 hours per year watching television. When asked to choose between watching T.V. and spending time with their families fifty-four percent of four to six year olds voted they would prefer to watch television. Television has changed the mindset of children over the years it has been proven that the more programs they watch, the more harmful it is to their brain development. T.V.
The trouble with television by Robert MacNeil is about his thoughts and studies of television. MacNeil states television is addicting. He says, “television’s variety becomes a narcotic, not a stimulus.” Television usurps one of the most precious gifts, the ability to focus your attention on yourself rather than just passively surrender it. The television programmers have one little thing to get you hooked. Now this is what you are doing most.
Television holds an important part in most of our lives. From a young age, we spend countless hours sitting in front of a television set. Every year there are new shows created, and our favorite shows are renewed for another season. There are numerous programs to choose from. Television broadcasts are free, and there are also paid options for more diverse programming. We are fortunate enough to be able to spend on average a third of our leisure time watching television all from the comfort of our homes. Given the incredible reach that television has on our lives, we can say that television has a significant impact on our lives.
The main reason we watch TV is for entertainment where we can view shows and movies. Shows and movies expose individuals to a variety of cultures and values that they do not see often. Another use of television is for information such as news, political views, and advertisements. Televisions inform us of news around our community and world, and also persuade us in buying products or donating money to a cause. An ongoing controversy has risen such tha televisions can be harmful to children because of the vulgar language and violence shown through modern day shows or even celebrities. Viewing too much television can be time consuming and may even discourage children to go play outside and be social. Watching the newscast has changed my life by informing me of the violence that goes on throughout my community. Also, a negative effect of watching too much television has taken up my time when I could have been doing more productive tasks.
What can be the effect of television on people’s lives? People living in these days are addicted to watching TV. However, it is true that watching too much television makes people lose touch with the reality of their lives; they start to see the TV “world” as the real world instead of the world they are living in. This situation divides their loyalties, and all of this is controlled by the people who control the media. Many examples exist in the world that we live and in the world of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. For example, the way the media lies people proves that people are not in the “real” world when they are watching TV and being taught to what had been told to them. Or, people are hooked on television so much that they neglect and
Some people say television is bad, but in my opinion I do not think so, here are some comparison points. Newspapers you read for the news and to catch up on the current sports score even read the comics. On television, you can watch the news when it is on, and then change over to ESPN and check the sports score, and if you are a kid at heart, you watch some cartoons. They say that it kills brain cells, that you do not learn anything from tv, I am pretty sure that most Americans that do watch television can tell you they learned at least a few things by watching
The first reason tv and other types of media is so toxic to us is the amount of time we the average american spends on it is absolutely outrageous. A study was shown in this is your teen on screens that says that only 20% of teen and kids get the nine hours of sleep that are needed for that age and 45% get less than 8 hours a night. This fact really shows how much time we
The Television is often the centerpiece of typical American house. TVs are now a representative the American dream. TVs are even used to measure finical wellbeing. Huge flat screen TVs symbolize success, while smaller TVs represent modesty. People crowd around the TV to watch the big game, to catch up on the news and keep up with pop culture. Is there something wrong with this so-called wonder device known as the Television? Marie Winn, author of book Unplugging the plug-in drug, argues this point in the chapter “The Trouble with Television” claiming that the television negatively affects families and specifically children. Marie Winn is an author and journalist who is known for her write ups on wildlife and television. The book was published in 1987 and describes eight ways in which the television is damaging. Winn makes it a point not to argue against the content of television, but rather how the television effects family relationships and is a detriment to children’s development. While I agree with some of Winn’s, overall, I disagree with her assessment of television. The points that Winn made that I disagree with include, TV allows kids to grow up less civilized, TV keeps family from doing other things, TV makes children less resourceful, TV has a negative effect on children’s school achievement and TV has a negative effect on children’s physical fitness.
In the article “TV’s Negative Influence on Kids Reaffirmed” by Jeffrey M. McCall, he addresses the issue of how TV has a negative influence on children. McCall states that young children and toddler’s cognitive ability does not develop as well when they have television in the background while they are playing. McCall also argues that TV has a very influential role in the teen pregnancy rate and how early teens become sexually active. To further prove his point, McCall proclaims that children and teens that are exposed to too much Television and video games become socially awkward and have trouble interacting in society. McCall also says that the networks are rating their own programs carelessly which is leading to shows that should be blocked
Citizens in the United States have the same general behavior as those in Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451. This novel features a world where cars are fast, music is loud, and watching television is the main way to spend free time. People rarely make time for each other, rarely imagine and form their own opinions, and rarely take the time to stop and smell the roses. Ever since the television came out, it has made a huge impact on how information has been passed around. It seems that the television has become abused with the movies, television series, and video games whose importance seems to outweigh that of getting out to spend time with friends and family, exploring and trying new things. “According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day” (Herr). Considering there isn’t much time in the day after work and sleep, that’s a long time to be sitting doing almost nothing. In Fahrenheit 451, the civilians are consumed in
Television is incorporated into my daily routine whether it is watching the news in the morning or a movie at night. When I watch the news in the morning I catch up on current events and other news. On the other hand. At night I watch movies for entertainment and enjoyment. Television is not just changing people into couch potatoes by watching “chasing fast cars, drinking lite beer, shooting each other t close range, etc.”, it also can be a daily tool to learn new things and catch up on current events.
Anybody who has ever been a policeman, a lawyer, a psychiatrist, an ER doctor, or an FBI agent will attest to the truth that television does not accurately portray their life. In almost all aspects, television rarely depicts the world and life accurately. Too much television results in disillusionment about what to expect from the world around us. TV not only inaccurately portrays life, but it oversimplifies reality. It presents subjects in a matter of minutes and nicely wraps everything up at the end. This harms clear thinking by conditioning you to expect that most problems have a simple, clear solution that can be implemented in 60 minutes or
Technology throughout the past 30-40 years has become more advanced and accessible than ever. The television specifically has developed extremely since its beginning. What started off as a single camera caption, has developed into a full fledge worldwide availability. Within the United States, the TV is a normal everyday object common in households, hotels, schools, and even restaurants. There are approximately 118.4 million household in the United States that own a television set ( The Number of TV Households in the United States from season 2000-2001 to season 2016-2017 (in millions)).However, the increased amount of time spent watching TV has had a tremendous impact on people, especially kids. The differences in generations throughout the development of the TV has led to many questions, all revolving around whether or not the televisions has had a good or negative impact pertaining to children. Time spent watching television affects the brain, ability to learn, and skill levels in different areas (source. In the book “Last Child in The Woods,” Richard Louv discusses how children in the 1940’s would watch out the window at the scenery and have conversations, while children now sit and watch a movie on a flip-down video screen without knowledge to the outside world (Louv 16-17).
What do we really mean by television? The way we watch television has drastically changed over the last fifteen years due to new technologies such as digital television and services providing on-demand access. These drastic changes have had a huge effect on viewers and have “allowed online streaming platforms to dominate and revolutionize the way the audience consumes” (Aliloupour) media, ultimately allowing the viewer to be in total control of how, when and where they want their content. The idea of only being able to watch television on a television set is now a thing of the past. Due to technology, the audience now has a vast variety of options on how they can access content. By using scholarly articles, research in new media and Internet sites I will be analyzing current television and where the future of television will be heading.
Television, a telecommunication medium some may not survive without. Today’s generation may refer to television as a technological norm; delusional of a world where television was non-existent. Notably, television unites the nation through local or world events, politics, education, and entertainment. Philo Farnsworth, “Father of Television,” invented the television; the electronic transmission of fixed or mobile images. Furthermore, Farnsworth’s invention influenced a new form of media. Young Farnsworth’s scientific, technological imagination as well as, competitive battle with a major-league corporation, RCA, enticed the growth of one of the most popular media mediums; television.