Television is an outlet for literally any kind of information. Perhaps not to the same extent as the internet, but still its various waves of drama, action, mystery, HBO, HGTV, MTV, etc. permeate the minds of even the most bookish Americans. Is that a good thing? I think not.
Television has its appeals and strengths--the ability to bring breaking news to quite literally everyone across nations; the ability to introduce new ideas to the public on a grand scale in a small period of time; and the ability to make people laugh and cry from stories which would take them weeks to read in a book.
Unfortunately, people take it too far.
Television has now become an area, at least for Americans, where we begin to look fickle and weak. Today, international news is broadcast 24/7, which means that people are completely unaware, and therefore inactive, in their local societies. Not only that, but this constant influx of "news" is almost always another tragic or frightening tale. Broadcast networks know that people will be glued to a screen full of disaster, and so that's what they provide. And when all this tragedy is being ceaselessly hurled at Americans, they become paranoid, and a single accident somewhere in backwoods Virginia can make an entire nation pessimistic. And this pattern is not only found in news, but in sitcoms, reality TV, etc. Emotional relationships between characters are exaggerated and unrealistic, and the values and lifestyles of characters on TV don't reflect anything that should be ordinary. Sure, this may be good for entertainment, but people growing up eating dinner in front of the tube every night end up having a tough time understanding how life really is outside of the house den.
The negative affects don't stop with the minds of Americans, either. In an age where daytime television stretches far and wide, so does the American waistband.
Too much time watching television as an individual kills brain cells, increases depression, and (likely as an effect of depression) encourages overeating. But and worst of all, watching television has a very negative influence on society as a whole, fueling unrealistic ideas and unreasonable pessimism into the minds of the elders in charge, as well as the rising youth. As a youth of a nation that (according to the BLS) watches an average of 2.8 hours of television a day, I'm crossing my fingers.
Television has its appeals and strengths--the ability to bring breaking news to quite literally everyone across nations; the ability to introduce new ideas to the public on a grand scale in a small period of time; and the ability to make people laugh and cry from stories which would take them weeks to read in a book.
Unfortunately, people take it too far.
Television has now become an area, at least for Americans, where we begin to look fickle and weak. Today, international news is broadcast 24/7, which means that people are completely unaware, and therefore inactive, in their local societies. Not only that, but this constant influx of "news" is almost always another tragic or frightening tale. Broadcast networks know that people will be glued to a screen full of disaster, and so that's what they provide. And when all this tragedy is being ceaselessly hurled at Americans, they become paranoid, and a single accident somewhere in backwoods Virginia can make an entire nation pessimistic. And this pattern is not only found in news, but in sitcoms, reality TV, etc. Emotional relationships between characters are exaggerated and unrealistic, and the values and lifestyles of characters on TV don't reflect anything that should be ordinary. Sure, this may be good for entertainment, but people growing up eating dinner in front of the tube every night end up having a tough time understanding how life really is outside of the house den.
The negative affects don't stop with the minds of Americans, either. In an age where daytime television stretches far and wide, so does the American waistband.
Too much time watching television as an individual kills brain cells, increases depression, and (likely as an effect of depression) encourages overeating. But and worst of all, watching television has a very negative influence on society as a whole, fueling unrealistic ideas and unreasonable pessimism into the minds of the elders in charge, as well as the rising youth. As a youth of a nation that (according to the BLS) watches an average of 2.8 hours of television a day, I'm crossing my fingers.
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