The Importance Of Television On Society

Television was one of the most innovative and important inventions of the 20th Century without a doubt. But can something that was so revolutionary do more harm than good? The majority of households have at least one TV and each watch an average of about 3 hours a day. That’s pretty insane if you think about it! In the short by E.B. White he writes, “Television hangs on the questionable theory that whatever happens anywhere should be sensed everywhere”. White has this idea that it would be so easy to see, and hear basically everything from everywhere on the TV, that over time those certain sights we see wouldn 't have as much rarity value to us. Furthermore, White says that it may make people especially interested in nothing if everyone is able to see and hear everything. He wrote the short in 1948, and now

For example, the concept of sitting down and watching TV for hours on end is pretty mindless. You will receive no benefit from watching “soap operas” all day, yet people still waste their lives away doing so. The idea of a TV being used for emergencies or educational purposes is something I definitely agree with and is what it should be used for. But the rest of the material that is played throughout the day is just senseless garbage. E.B. White writes, “it may well turn out that people, being able to see and hear practically everything, will be specially interested in almost nothing”. I think he is right about people becoming interested in nothing which is why we have shows like reality TV so people can occupy their time. I am not against the idea of watching TV shows but there are better things to do than spend countless hours staring at a screen. This is why the TV could be dangerous because it takes away from the value of spending time outside. It could even make going outside seem dull and boring compared to watching