A Study On A Television

Television plays a very important role in everyday life. As children grow and develop, they can be influenced by what they see and hear.

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.

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.

When someone asks you if you like television, what would you say? Well for me I would answer yes, evidently to Robert Macneil that that is our problem. According to the article, The Trouble with Television by Robert Macneil, Television is addicting. By the age of 20 an average person will have watched an average of 20,000 hours of television. Plus after that 10,000 hours for every decade you live after the age of 20 that is a lot. With that time you could be out of school living on your own and not at home. I really wish that you could finish school at your own pace and not have to get up so early.

In the article, The Trouble with Television, Robert Macneil describes his viewpoint on the negative effects of television. He states that “by the age of 20, you will have watched 20,000 hours of television.” The author believes that we waste time that could be used to do more productive things. According to the article, in that time you could have “learned enough to become an astronomer or engineer or be fluent in several different languages.” Another opinion of the author is that Television is one of the main factors of illiteracy. He says that “some 30 million Americans are functionally illiterate, and cannot even understand the instructions on a medicine bottle.”

In today’s society, people often choose to watch T.V. over other activities. They read less, spend less time outside, and spend less time interacting with their family and friends. People often eat their meals while watching T.V. One research study done by The National Endowment for the Arts and reported in Information Please Database showed some alarming trends: People age 15-24 spend 1hour and 57 minutes each weekday watching T.V., people age 35-44 spend 1 hour and 53 minutes each weekday watching T.V., and people age 55-64 spend 2 hours and 35 minutes each weekday watching T.V. All of these age groups spent even more time viewing T.V. on the weekends than they did during the week. This study shows that people spend a great deal of time “vegetating” in front of a T.V. screen rather than interacting with others or using their minds to think.

Furthermore, the social health of people is suffering due to watching TV, over hanging out with friends. When watching TV people do not talk, as they need to hear the show they are watching. They cannot have healthy relationships with friends if they

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.

The author of “The Trouble with Television,” Robert MacNeil, states that television can get addictive. The article says that you will AT LEAST watch 20,000 hours of television to the age of 30. The author also states that “the trouble with television is that it discourages concentration.” He is trying to persuade the reader that television is a waste of time. MacNeil clearly believes that television is the most disruptive invention. And he’s trying to encourage us to try to find something more productive than just sitting and watching TV.

With the move towards more portable and convenient television viewing habits among younger Americans, I would have expected there to be a major shift in these viewing habits. However, this is not the case whatsoever. It was also interesting to hear how the average American spends more than 11 hours a day engaging in some sort of electronic media, with live television still being the most engaged device, followed by radio then smartphone technology. I understand the average American does not engage with their smartphones but for only short, broken up portions of their day, yet I still find the gap between television and the other media outlets quite

In “The Role of Television in American Life” by George Comstock, he talks about a very interesting reason as to why TV draws so many people, he states that is a form of escape from the viewers normal life, leaving them in a more enjoyable, relaxing state of mind. To add on to this, in the other reading, “McLuhan: It's All Going According to Marshall's Plan” by Mark Edmundson, he states that “McLuhan called TV the ultimate depth experience because the viewer had to participate fully in creating the image. From the three million dots per second on the screen,” which verifies the statements from George Comstock. On a person note, I can vouch for this 100%. Nothing is more relaxing that just sitting back and watching something on tv and just forgetting about the world around you, and I think people need that I their life. All work and no play leads to a unhappy lifestyle and thanks to the media medium of todays culture, I think we are enjoy life at it’s fullest at this point in

Television has played an integral role in the American home for so long that people wouldn’t know which direction to face their couches without it. For decades it has brought families together for a few hours of shared enjoyment at the end of the day, and given co-workers something to talk about at the water cooler to distract them from the dull tasks that lay ahead of them. TV has capitalized on this ability to distract its mass of viewers from their everyday lives. Content was never really the main purpose of television – its purpose was to produce shows that would attract the largest audiences, and to increase the amount of advertisements seen by a highly consumerist culture. In its attempt to appeal to the mainstream, it has, in a very

In modern times, people have a problem with the television and how it is used. People are finding

Some negative health outcomes are attributed to television. There is that of becoming the “couch potato”, many of us base television around our lives, and some of us get lazy and spend too much time watching television which can result in health problems. Not only is watching too much TV and being sedentary a bad thing, but the overwhelming amount of advertising and marketing that we see on television causes an increase in intake of a range of unhealthy products. Each hour per day increases the risk of developing diabetes by 3.4%. A variety of other potential behavioral and physical effects exist such as poorer social relationships, less

TV, more commonly known as ‘television’ is one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century. In ancient Greek tèle means ‘far', and in Latin visio means sight. From my perspective and many people of the world television has changed the way we live. Television has brought many amazing things, however nothing is perfect.