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Under the influence of televis (Click to select text)
Technology has profoundly affected the lives of humans today. Everything from the automobile to the micro-chip has altered our behavior and daily activities. However, while science has impacted society in many ways, one of the most powerful technological influences on humans has been television. Since its introduction in the late nineteen twenties, TV has influenced the clothes we wear, the products we buy, and the foods we eat. Television has helped elect presidents and create huge corporations out of simple mom and pop stores in small town America. Clearly, television has impacted our lives in both positive and negative ways. While television educates and entertains, it also promotes laziness, violence and poor social skills. Television has tremendous power, an unlimited potential to educate and inform. The bright colors, quick movements, and sudden flashes capture the public's attention in a way like no other medium. TV programming has helped many viewers confront major social issues, such as domestic violence, homosexuality, and drug abuse. Since the 1950's, the American public has embraced the visual aspect of TV and shown an interest in world events like never before. Television has given the common man the power to see and learn about other cultures thousands of miles away. Through the power of TV broadcasting, images and ideas can be viewed from around the world. In the fifties and sixties America was gripped with fear over the spread of communism. This fear stemmed from an overall ignorance of the Soviet Union and their allies. It was through television news stories that the majority of the American population began to understand and accept the differences between the two nations. Because of its strong visual impact and ability to disseminate information almost instantaneously, television has brought global events closer to home and informed the public in a way no other medium could achieve. Television's ability to entertain and provide instant gratification is perhaps the greatest reason why so many families tune into TV programming on a regular basis. Twenty-four hours a day television stations across America broadcast a wide assortment of programs into our homes. Such programming is an inexpensive and convenient source of entertainment. Children and adults can be entertained for any length of time and at any time of the day. In an effort to entertain, TV shows and special event coverage often bring families, friends and connunities together. In 1969 hundreds of millions of people around the world watched as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. For that moment audiences sat captivated to their TV sets, as not only Americans, but fellow humans accomplished the impossible. Even today friends and families continue to gather around the television for large events such as the Super Bowl, presidential speeches, and television shows. Despite its positive effects, television has also had a negative impact on society. One of the most serious consequences of regular television use is its contribution to a sedentary lifestyle. Researchers say people wathc an average of four hours of television a day. Americans routinely give up exercise and other productive activities in favor of watching TV. A child today typically spends more time with TV than he or she spends talking to parents, playing with peers, or participating in recreational activities. The passive act of watching television has taken time away from activities that are much more stimulating on the mind and body. As children and adults spend more and more time with TV, their physical activity decreases which can result in obesity. Many also argue that exposure to television violence encourages negative behavior, including aggression in children and increased crime. By portraying crime as an everyday event, television programs normalize violence, thereby suggesting that criminal behavior is connon and acceptable. Televison violence particularly affects children, who are much more vulnerable and often unable to distinguish electronic images from reality. Views of television stimulating aggression among children are not new. Throughout television's history kids have enjoyed many violent programs: Gunsmoke in the fifties, Batman in the sixites, Starsky and Hutch in the seventies, The A-Team in the eighites, and the Mighty Morphen Power Rangers in the nineties. Unfortunately such violent TV shows desensitize children to the harsh reality of violence. While television has the abiltiy to provide valuable information and bring instantaneous images from other parts of the world into one's living room, it also hinders social development. Instead of interacting with other humans, many TV viewers substitutetelevision as their best friend. TV is always there for you. TV caters to a person's taste, and TV is entertaining. These characteristics can sometimes be hard to find in a living person. The hours wasted in front of a television screen culd be spent in discussion around the dinner table, visiting with friends, or exploring the outside world. Television also takes time away from families. As a new century begins, family life in America is moving more rapidly than ever before. With so much going on in an individual's life, families are spending less quality time together. Form many families dinners are no linger a communal event. Instead, children grab their food from the kitchen, only to eat it in silence in front of a flickering screen. Some parents have resorted to television as a convenient and inexpensive baby-sitter. While placing a kid in front of a television screen gains the parents some needed time for themselves, this routine instills a bad habit within the children and may hurt them in the long run. Telvision is a firmly established element of American life. As hundreds of millions of people tune in to their favorite programs each night, it's clear television is capable of exerting an influence that no other medium of communicatio can match. We live in a Golden Age technology, with more science and knowledge available to more people than ever before. However, while the potential of television to improve human life is unlimited, much of that power has been wasted, squandered sway into mindless entertainment. Television is like that last piece of pie at Thanksgiving--you know you shouldn't have it, but doesn't everyone want to know "Who Shot JR?"
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