Public opinion on television’s effects on the human race are varied; some of us think that television is simply a harmless form of entertainment, and some are convinced it will be the harbinger of the end of societal decency. There is plenty of evidence to suggest both, and it is likely that aspects of both are true. I have chosen six peer reviewed scholarly articles and will summarize, compare, and contrast their methods, content, and conclusions to aid in clarifying television’s true effects on the human race.
Mitu (2010) writes about how misleading messages and influential television can be. Access to watching television is easy, cheap, occurs on a daily basis, and it is a major source of entertainment for a large majority of worldwide families. Television programming has the ability to convey messages and meaning through experience as opposed to normal communication; it can create envy in our hearts, and force opinions upon us, or it can connect us to others and teach us passion and empathy. It can show us unfathomable violence and suffering, or allow us to briefly experience a life we could only dream of. It is obvious that television is a double-edged sword, and plenty of research is available to portray this fact.
Television: It’s a Good Thing
In her article “Culture and Television After 20 Years. The Televisual Globalization,” Bianca-Marina Mitu (2010) discusses the nature of television and its place in our society. She notes that television has become something of a scapegoat for the shortcomings of society, and that research indicating that television is the cause of these societal ills is weak and flawed. Television allows every individual to see the ever-changing world around us, but it can also harbor negativ...
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...nnaire designed to measure acceptance of rape myths. Since all the clips were from the same television show, the researchers hypothesize that this is a limitation to the internal validity of the study, and note that the one-time study may not translate directly to everyday life; since all clips were from the same show and measures taken were self reported, the authors note that this study should be cautiously interpreted.
In conclusion, there are obviously good and bad aspects of television. It has the potential to rot minds, induce violence and aggression, and lead us to hate our lives out of envy, but it can also educate us, enlighten us, and connect us to people around the world. Depending on what we watch and how healthy we are in other aspects of our lives, television can be a helpful or harmful, as is the case with every other form of human establishment.
In the world today watching television is so addictive that everything else looks unattractive. The author argues that television is not lethal as drugs and alcohol but it can have many effects such as children getting more violent and reality seem second best. Every person lives are filled with emotions including anxiety, depression, and stress so after long hard work day the best medicine is to turn the television on and not to worry about anything. For example, I usually drive from site to site to take care of business. So when I return home from work I will sit on my couch and turn the television on and flick the channel until I fall to sleep. As Marie Winn describes, "the television experience allows the participant to blot out the real world and e...
In the article “TV’s Distorted Images” written by Tom Seibert talks about the powerful ways TV can affect the way people think. TV can ruin a person’s outlook on themselves, thinking, and acting. In “TV’s Distorted Images”, Seibert writes the changes in people’s lives and their self-awareness of how they live. Tom wrote his article in 1995 when TV was brought to Fiji with just one channel working. The young girls that he had talked to were all perfectly happy and healthy and lived life with the biggest smile until two high-rated TV shows became a part of their life. Once the girls started watching shows like Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210, they became self-conscious. The girls no longer enjoyed how they looked, believing they were overweight or not pretty.
Showing the cause and effects of the growth in the use of the television is the purpose of this piece. Individuals do not grasp the full extent of the different areas that the TV has the ability to reach and even manipulate. These “dirty” our sources of truth by perfectly formed propaganda that is absorbed into every area of our lives as a “true” sense of reality or what life should look like.
Click. On goes the television, off goes your mind. Click. Boring. Click. Seen it. Click. It will do. Barbara Ehrenreich’s argument that television is corrupting social society is valid for the once great mode of communication has become a couch potato breeding machine.
As many people know modern television produces many good and bad consequences to the viewer. However, as a whole, the positive effects of TV clearly out weight the negative ones. In Barbara Ehrenreich’s passage, The Worst Years of Our Lives, she asserts that what’s being televised, immobilizes the viewer from actually doing the activities portrayed on TV. Yet, all the events on television have been imitated from what is going on in real life. Television is not something that drains a person from everyday activities, but something that encourages them to try new ones and escape the crazy, stressful moments of life. Not only is TV something that exemplifies new hobbies that can be taken on, but it is also a moment where a family can come together and laugh at all those funny moments in Full House and The Simpsons. Lastly, and possibly most importantly it informs people on what’s going on around
Marie Winn, in her essay “Television: The Plug-In Drug,” argues the negative influences of television that affects individuals and families (438-46).
Throughout the years, television has altered the lives of many American families in a number of ways. When television was first invented, it brought entertainment and togetherness into the homes of many Americans. However, during the course of years, television has caused turmoil in many American homes. Television has led to families being disconnected from one another and has caused a lack in family unity and tradition. It is crucial to ensure that a family maintains their togetherness and interaction with one another. However, many American families are so consumed into the depths of the unparallel force of the television universe that they have become unconscious and blind sighted by the harmful effects that television has caused them.
TV now serves us to think, to analyze what kind of thinking must be exerted to make sense of a cultural experience. That the television has put more pressure on our cognitive abilities; the complexity has grown by three elements, multiple accounts, multiple accusations, and social networks.
Television has long been a part of American culture. From its conception until today there have been people who believe that television is a waste of time and energy and there have been those in the opposite camp who believe that television should be a part of every American life. There is also a middle ground of people who watch television to keep informed on what’s happening in the world as well as entertained by the latest sitcom, or more popularly today, reality show.
Since its invention, television has been one of the most influential forms of media to date. As TV sets grew in popularity and became a standard household item, they also became a learning tool for audiences as well. To some extent, television provides an essential framework of knowledge, and our view of society and reality, in general, is shaped by the perceptions of what and even who we watch. The issue with this is that the lines between “reality television” and actual reality become blurred, and it becomes increasingly difficult to make distinctions between both. Throughout this paper, we will examine the extent to which media represents the world in which we live.
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.
In the argumentative essay “T.V. Addiction” by Marie Winn, Winn relates watching television to having an addiction with drugs and alcohol. The television experience allows us to escape from the real world and enter into a pleasurable and peaceful mental state. When it comes to television, Marie asks the following question: Is there a kind of television viewing that falls into the more serious category of destruction addiction? I believe there is. Why do so many people, instead of doing what they’re supposed to be doing, put everything on hold and just focus on television? I think this is because they want an escape from their problems.
In the article “Life According to T.V.” published in 2009, in common culture: Reading and writing about American popular culture, Harry Water portrays that the media nowadays are easily to misrepresent the world and damage the society as a whole. First of all, he points out that the television is more influential than other forms of entertainment media in the public which affects social attitudes and creates cultural biases. Secondly, he refers to Gerbner’s study which is based on precise experiments and surveys and explains television changes the public’s view through multiple ways such as sex, age, race, work, health and crime, or other aspects of society. For instance, Water says that TV shows leave us a negative impression about the old people, which are silly, stubborn, sexually inactive and eccentric. Water also claims that crime rages about ten times more often than that in real life. Violence video always has a negative influence in society, especially the young generation. Water still points out that young people easily changes their attitude to choose a job because TV show greatly overestimated the proportion of Americans employed as physicians, lawyers, athletes, and entertainers.
Television is a vital source from which most Americans receive information. News and media delegates on television have abused theirs powers over society through the airing of appealing news shows that misinform the public. Through literary research and experimentation, it has been proven that people's perception of reality has been altered by the information they receive from such programs. Manipulation, misinterpretation, word arrangement, picture placement and timing are all factors and tricks that play a major role in the case. Research, experimentation, and actual media coverage has pinpointed actual methods used for deceptive advertising. Television influences society in many ways. People are easily swayed to accept a belief that they may not normally have unless expressed on television, since many people think that everything they hear on television is true. This, however, is not always the case. It has been observed that over the past twenty to thirty years, normal social behavior, even actual life roles of men and women and media, regulatory policies have all been altered (Browne 1998). Media has changed with time, along with quality and respectability. Many Americans receive and accept false information that is merely used as an attention grabber that better the show's ratings and popularity. Many magazines and Journal reviews have periodically discussed the "muckraking" that many tabloid shows rely on to draw in their viewers. This involves sensationalizing a story to make it more interesting, therefore increasing the interest of the audience. "Along the way, all sorts of scandalous substance and goofy tricks appear, but not much mystery in the logic," (Garnson 1997). People often know that these shows aim to deceive them, but still accept the information as truth. Many times, people have strong opinions on certain topics. Yet, when they are exposed to the other side of the argument, they may be likely to agree with the opposite view. As Leon Festinger said, "If I chose to do it (or say it), I must believe in it," (Myers 1997). This is an example of Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, which pertains to acting contrary to our beliefs. Television influences many people to change their original beliefs. It has the viewers think that the majority of other people hold the contrary idea. Once these views are presented, people have the option to hol...
Television has become one of the major entertainment providers in our modern life. It sits in the living room of about almost every home in the world and it is the one thing that most people like to come home to after a long day of work or school. Not only does it give us something to laugh or get scared at but it also provides us with valuable information about what is happening around our local community and around different places in the world. But, as good as this sounds, Television may be affecting us without even realizing it. Being one of the major distractors in today 's society, it gets us attached to its content in which a lot of people spend a lot of their time watching. Being thus, watching too