Televison: Sending The Wrong Message Part Two Essay, Research Paper

From what I’ve experienced from hours in front of this controlling box, I have learned very little compared to real life experiences. But what else could be easier than to relax on a nice soft couch, and push a button? The television business has gotten attention from us all.

From the classroom, the home and the workplace, the television industry has us right where they want us. We pay the high prices monthly. Television watching is a necessity in most people’s live. Available to all, a cable network for the people. Why do people sit around and watch this? Not all television shows are “bad”. Educational shows are found daily on many channels at my house. The issue to many is appropriate television for the children. Once a child has been to a friend’s house, he or she has most likely played outside, played with toys, colored a picture, and watched TV.

Cable TV, with its wide variety of channel topics, has changed the way children and adults live their lives. Where as before, years ago, television was not available to all like it is today. Americans would read books and newspapers and listen to the radio. Living in a new millenium, people of this country are spoiled with technology. The television is the leading piece that Americans own. There are seven televisions in my home currently. There are five people living in my house. I don’t know what to say. An older brother coming home with little sisters watching his show creates no other feelings but perhaps disappointment and disgust.

The television is hardly regulated; thus many influences began to pour upon society and fuse into the slow process of change which resulted in the characteristics of our present day society. The television took America from an organized and uniform nation, transforming it into a somewhat disarray of mixed thoughts, different attitudes

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and new understandings. The statistics on television in the average Americans’ life is shocking, yet believable. To share just a few statistics should make a strong point. For instance, the percentage of U.S. household with at least one television is 98% The percent of children between ages 2-5 with televisions in their room are 25%. Last, the most shocking is the percentage of 4-6 year olds. This age group was asked to choose between watching TV and spending time with their fathers. The majority of the children chose television. Our society has children with television sets in their own bedrooms at the ages of 2-5. Children may tend to have trouble when they have to listen to a teacher or when reading a textbook later in school. Perhaps, they should be reading or playing with toys instead?

Television offers viewing in the comfort of one’s own home. When watching TV, one has the option of doing several other tasks at the same time. Preparing dinner, house cleaning, and resting are examples. The time invested in TV is completely variable. Watching a program for a half an hour or a televised movie for two hours. There is no commitment involved in watching TV. If for some reason you do not like the program that you are watching, change the channel and watch something else. A television allows you to use a video cassette recorder (VCR) to record a television show. For example, if

something comes up and you are unable to watch a program, you can easily insert a videotape into your VCR and record the program to watch at a later time. There are always a variety of programs to watch and there is always something for everyone. Television shows rely on stories that last for long periods of time to keep viewers interested. The television industry will continue to grow in the future as it has in the past.