Analysis Of The Four Arguments To Eliminate Television By Jerry Mander

In "Vast Wasteland," Newton Minow gave a forewarning speech about television and the public interest. Minow is correct in his statement for these reasons: the influence of viewers, public interest, and the future impact of television.

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.

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.

In the article “TV’s Negative Influence on Kids Reaffirmed” by Jeffrey M. McCall, he addresses the issue of how TV has a negative influence on children. McCall states that young children and toddler’s cognitive ability do not develop as well when they have a television in the background while they are playing and interacting. McCall also argues that TV has a very influential role in the teenage pregnancy rate and how early teens become sexually active. To further prove his point, McCall proclaims that children and teens that are exposed to large amounts of television and video games become socially awkward and have issues interacting in society. McCall also says that the networks are rating their own programs carelessly, which is leading to shows that should be restricted by a V-chip being watched by children, rendering the restricting system null and void.

In an article ' The Plug-In Drug ' the author Marie Winn discusses the bad influence of television on today's society. Television is a ' drug ' that interfere with family ritual, destroys human relationships and undermines the family.

     What role does television play in society? For decades we have seen many parts of our world rapidly going through changes in technology. Today’s society has been transformed by means of communication and the available information through mass media. Most Americans rely on television for news, sports, and entertainment. Television is just one of the many examples of how technology has changed our lives. Since the invention of the television in the early 1900’s, it has played a very important role in our lives. Having a television set in the home has become very essential in today’s society. We depend on it to entertain us with its sitcoms and to inform us about current world issues. The

The Television is often the centerpiece of typical American house. TVs are now a representative the American dream. TVs are even used to measure finical wellbeing. Huge flat screen TVs symbolize success, while smaller TVs represent modesty. People crowd around the TV to watch the big game, to catch up on the news and keep up with pop culture. Is there something wrong with this so-called wonder device known as the Television? Marie Winn, author of book Unplugging the plug-in drug, argues this point in the chapter “The Trouble with Television” claiming that the television negatively affects families and specifically children. Marie Winn is an author and journalist who is known for her write ups on wildlife and television. The book was published in 1987 and describes eight ways in which the television is damaging. Winn makes it a point not to argue against the content of television, but rather how the television effects family relationships and is a detriment to children’s development. While I agree with some of Winn’s, overall, I disagree with her assessment of television. The points that Winn made that I disagree with include, TV allows kids to grow up less civilized, TV keeps family from doing other things, TV makes children less resourceful, TV has a negative effect on children’s school achievement and TV has a negative effect on children’s physical fitness.

In the article “TV’s Negative Influence on Kids Reaffirmed” by Jeffrey M. McCall, he addresses the issue of how TV has a negative influence on children. McCall states that young children and toddler’s cognitive ability does not develop as well when they have television in the background while they are playing. McCall also argues that TV has a very influential role in the teen pregnancy rate and how early teens become sexually active. To further prove his point, McCall proclaims that children and teens that are exposed to too much Television and video games become socially awkward and have trouble interacting in society. McCall also says that the networks are rating their own programs carelessly which is leading to shows that should be blocked

Television is advertising. It is a medium whose purpose is to sell, to promote capitalism. In 1977, Jerry Mander, a former advertising executive in San Francisco, published Four Arguments For The Elimination Of Television. In the book, Mander reveals how the television networks and advertisers use this pervasive video medium for sales.

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

Television is a technology that has been very prominent in our society since the time it was invented. With it being so present in our lives, it vastly impacts society. Newton Minow touched upon this topic in his “Vast Wasteland” speech in 1961. He states that television gives us a power like no other and that it could cause a variety of good or bad things to occur, making it the job of the people and government to ensure that television is sending a positive message. Minow’s statements about the power of television being either beneficial or detrimental to society and our role in assuring that it is beneficial, are all valid points despite the rise in popularity of the internet.

Sachs achievements over the course of his career lead him to be a viable voice of reasoning when it comes to damage that televisions have on our population’s health, mentally and physically. He provides a fair amount of statistics to back his claim and does it early on to grab the attention of the reader. One of the first statements he makes to compare America’s achievement at being first in everything. Mr. Sachs states, “True to form, America became the greatest TV watchers, which is probably still true today” (Sachs 441). To back his claim, he adds, “The best evidence suggests that Americans watch more than 5 hours per day of television on average...” (441). which is compared to other developed countries and their lack of usage of the televisions. By showing reasonable data he is able to correlate the differences between American television consumers and those of other countries such as Scandinavia who spends half the time watching the tube as Americans. These valid facts show his credibility on the subject that helps him establish his Logos to the

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.

Over the last forty to fifty years, television has been a major topic of discussion. Specifically, many debate societal benefits to television watching. One widely accepted opinion is that watching TV makes people dumber. People have referred to it with terms like the “idiot box” and do not feel that watching TV has any benefit at all. They feel that it is a waste of time and people need to spend their hours more wisely. Others are of the opinion that TV is actually has societal benefits. From this perspective, they claim that the development of the structure of the programs now requires one to intellectually participate in watching television. Essentially, the argument is whether TV is a beneficial societal force or is it simply a

What do we really mean by television? The way we watch television has drastically changed over the last fifteen years due to new technologies such as digital television and services providing on-demand access. These drastic changes have had a huge effect on viewers and have “allowed online streaming platforms to dominate and revolutionize the way the audience consumes” (Aliloupour) media, ultimately allowing the viewer to be in total control of how, when and where they want their content. The idea of only being able to watch television on a television set is now a thing of the past. Due to technology, the audience now has a vast variety of options on how they can access content. By using scholarly articles, research in new media and Internet sites I will be analyzing current television and where the future of television will be heading.