Televisions are almost a modern necessity and found in nearly every home. They provide society with current events, entertainment, and numerous other programs. They have become a symbol of a couch potato, such as in “The Simpsons” or “Family Guy” but it wasn't always this way. TVs used to bring people together when they first became popular as a reason to pile the family onto a couch and share an experience. When it became popular in the nineteen forties, Television began to revolutionize American culture. In politics it has become especially relevant in this current election, and entertainment has been pushing boundaries in film for decades now. This class could easily have been named “America Since Television” because of how the evolution of TV changed everything from Presidential debates to the very culture of the United States through entertainment. The biggest change to American society is Televisions effect on popular culture and entertainment. When the television first became popularized in the nineteen forties, it was primarily a source of news with only a few sporting events for entertainment, but after World War II multiple requests for stations began to overwhelm the Federal Communications Commission. One of these stations, CBS, had the first extremely successful TV Show, “I Love …show more content…
It has changed the election process, it has created a platform for social reform, and has set precedents that remain unchanged. The reforms are moving slowly in the right direction, but lag behind many other media sources available now. Despite this, television still holds a very important place in drawing people together to discus what they just saw. These changes caused America to develop into the nation that it is progressing slower than other countries leaving the United States as, “One nation, on the couch, with liberty and justice for
Eventually television began to grow and advertising started taking over and that is where people started to turn to get their news. A new variety of shows began demonstrating real life family situations and comedies. People began to relate and also see life from a different perspective and that impacted peoples values and morals.
Many of the technological advancements in entertainment helped people live a much happier and exciting life. The television was wanted by almost every average American family in this decade and overwhelmed millions of baby-boomer children who’s relationship with TV has influenced the United States’ culture and politics. Television
A television in the home wasn’t just a family time activity, the radio serials of earlier generations were similar, but with the images and nationwide spectrum brought into the home, it was easier conceptualize the events of the world. The television was becoming a window to the world, sitcom dramas and the nightly news were stark contrasts, seeing your favorite characters live their lives was nice but when the news told of warfare and hidden communist threats. Society began to see that other groups in the nation weren’t like the nuclear family, that many events on the nightly news were real and not rumors and easily dismissed. The influence of advertising and television, gave people the idea of items and status equaling happiness, economic prosperity led to the replacement of family functions. Ind...
The invention of the television, made by the collective work of inventors and engineers, has made a big impact on the lives of millions. However, this impact has not always been positive. Television’s potential to connect, educate, and inform is often over-shadowed by the lack of individual responsibility in using this modern day miracle, therefore causing its impact on society to appear negative (Hick, 1). Television has pushed the boundaries of societal values over the last twenty years, leading to the changes in norms and tolerance for different behaviors. It desensitizes humans to violence, sexual content, and crude or racist jokes. Television has given an unrealistic view on life. It has also affected the way people yearn to look by creating the idea of a “perfect” body image. Television has made a mold of society, leading to the end of individuality. Television’s harmful effect on the human brain has definitely played a part in the change of society’s morals. All of these things together are what lead to the way American society is today.
The many evils that exist within television’s culture were not foreseen back when televisions were first put onto the market. Yet, Postman discovers this very unforgiveable that the world did not prepare itself to deal with the ways that television inherently changes our ways of communication. For example, people who lived during the year 1905, could not really predict that the invention of a car would not make it seem like only a luxurious invention, but also that the invention of the car would strongly affect the way we make decisions.
Paul S. Boyer. "Television." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Retrieved November 24, 2011 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-Television.html
With improvements to broadcasting technologies and greater access by more families, television was now in more homes in the 1960’s, bringing news, advertising, and family comedy shows to the nation. Moreover, the influence on social aspects of people’s live was apparent when it came to depicting women and their gender roles through acting. Consequently, television played another role regarding social dynamics thus, showing the realities of civil rights and the horrors of war. Additionally, television brought the political candidates to the forefront and had a strong influence on the American people’s political ideologies, as the first ever presidential debate aired on television. Finally, television aided the economy by waging advertising campaigns that convinced consumers to purchase their products. Coupled with consumer’s extra income contributing to a strong economy, despite the slightly high unemployment rates. As can be seen, television played a key role in the social, political, and economic culture in the 1950’s and
Imagine a world in which presidential debates were not televised, and a person would have to read the newspaper to get all their political news. Just how different would our country be today? Television has a huge effect on American politics. It is often the main source from which people derive their reasoning and opinions from. There is a plethora of news television channels to choose from and gather information from. These channels often run all times of the day. Keeping American citizens up to date on all developing news. Television properly helps U.S citizens vet and get to know the candidate, as well as the candidate's plan.
One effect TV has had on how we view things is in the area of advertisement. A few weeks ago in English, my class had quite a discussion on the subject of commercials. A person can tell what type of society they live in by simply watching the commercials during any TV program. One example, in America, is the numerous ads for various types of medication. From this, it is easy to see that our society cares a lot about health care and making sure that they feel healthy.
Presently 98% of the households in the United States have one or more televisions in them. What once was regarded as a luxury item has become a staple appliance of the American household. Gone are the days of the three channel black and white programming of the early years; that has been replaced by digital flat screen televisions connected to satellite programming capable of receiving thousands of channels from around the world. Although televisions and television programming today differ from those of the telescreens in Orwell’s 1984, we are beginning to realize that the effects of television viewing may be the same as those of the telescreens.
The invention of the television has had an impact on all aspects of American lives. It has affected how we work, interact with others, and our relationships. One part of American society that has been especially affected is presidential elections. Television has impacted who is elected and why they were elected. Since the 1960's television has served as a link between the American public and presidential elections that allows the candidate to appear more human and accountable for their actions; consequently this has made television a positive influence on presidential elections.
People have always wondered about effects television could have on individuals. By the late 1980 s, an increasingly deregulated
Television is everywhere these days, not just in our living rooms but in bathrooms, kitchens, doctor's offices, grocery stores, airplanes, and classrooms. We have access to TV virtually anywhere and as American's we are taking advantaged of it. Adults aren't the only ones watching TV; children today are watching more TV than ever before. TV has even become known as "America's baby-sitter." (Krieg). Meaning that parents are now using the television as a way of entertaining their children while they attempt to accomplish other things such as cooking and cleaning.
had a significant impact on history because television dramatically changed politics and culture throughout the world.
Television and journalism have a relatively short history together, yet over the last sixty years, the two have become increasingly intertwined, perhaps even irreversible so. But this merger is between two opposing forces–one, a mass medium that inherently demands entertainment and the other, a profession most people hold responsible for information, for facts, which, for the most part, are inherently boring. So has television been beneficial for the American people? The people that our country’s founding fathers chose to hold responsible for electing those to be responsible for our country’s government? By exploring the history of television journalism, discovering how it came to be, and looking at current trends in the industry, I only hope to be able to give my own informed opinion.