The Influence Of Television Essay, Research Paper

The Influence of Television Today

It s eight o clock Wednesday evening and a rumor is circulating at a small-town high school in Massachusetts that a student named Jack is gay. Jacks friends-one of whom is a 15-year-old girl who has been sexually active since she was 13, and another of whom has a mother who has recently committed adultery-assure him it would be okay with them if her were, but admit their relief when he says he isn t. An hour later, in San Francisco, a women named Julia is being beaten by her boyfriend. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, a young stripper who has given birth out of wedlock learns that her own mother locked her in a basement when she was three years old, an experience that she thinks may explain her inability to love her own child.

Is this like a typical evening in America? If someone that had never watched television had turned it on this night, they would likely have concluded that it is made up pretty exclusicely of photogenic young people with disintergrating muclear families and liveral attitudes about sex. This obviously can t be an accurate picture, but what might this person have learned from the programs he or she had watched. Would all the sex, violence, and diminished morals he or she had watched teach antisocial behavior? Or might he or she have learned from prime time dramas and sitcoms the behavior and attitudes of America today?

This is the question we must ask all of ourselves. I started this paper off thinking that television was a positive source. Although through researching this topic I have now found that there are more negative points then positive points. I have concluded that because of all of the negative role models that t.v. allows us to view, the violence that is introduced to todays youth, the television programs and the news we watch daily that bring us false information about today s society, and the way t.v. influences the way that a person should look, act, or even emotionally feel about situations.

In today s television shows, producers are putting in characters to portray positive role models for todays youth to look up to. For example, Walker Texas Ranger is portrayed as wholesome family entertainment where the good guys always win. When in reality the hour long show is based upon fighting, shooting, and reckless endangerment of peoples lives. The show does not bring out positive conflict resolutions to viewers watching.

VIOLENCE- paragraph

Next, we deal with the everyday issue of false information. In today s news and television programs (talk shows) to bring a topic to a more interesting level producers and show writers are adding false facts to the stories to make them look more interesting then the truth actually is.

We watch television and see gorgeous actors and actresses and think that s what it takes to be successful, and that s what a person should look like. Shows use pretty people to make theirselves look more attractive to the viewer. In so many shows without knowing it they are showing us how we should emotionally feel about different situations. Especially when young viewers are watching a show and are watching these situations they are very easily influenced to do as they see.