Live Television Essay

Postman made it clear that his book is not an attack on the television itself. Instead he asserted that, supplied by the television's form, it is the change in the definition of how we learn, and thus perceive, the world around us that is under his criticism. When it comes to entertainment, Postman admitted that the television does an excellent job. "Television [...] serves us most usefully when presenting junk-entertainment; it serves us most ill when it co-opts serious modes of discourse-news, politics, science, education, commerce, religion-and turns them into entertainment packages" (159). The television does not require viewers to carry thoughts from minute to minute, and their eyes are never unstimulated, as the average duration of a camera view is a mere 3.5 seconds (86). Such brevity of thought and picture are a drastic difference from the way we used to get our information. That is, through the monopoly of the print media. Then contiguous information, uninterrupted by advertisements and thoughts not spliced into sentence-long segments, was expressed from cover to cover. Now, the kind of information (or misinformation) we are accustomed to receiving via the television set is redefining the way we receive and perceive information. It is not

It wasn’t until the 1960s that the television became an everyday commodity in society. To go along with the already popular dramas and comedies, tv became a major outlet for news as CBS evening news and 60 minutes debuted (Herman). Sports broadcasting also made huge strides during the early 1960s as Wide World of Sports aired on ABC, instant replay became a standard in sports broadcasting, CBS and NBC both broadcasted Super Bowl one in color (Herman). As television gained popularity the range of the topics presented on television shows went to more controversial and relevant topics in hopes to relate with the typical viewer. The subjects of the television shows for the most part have stayed the same over the past 40 years, but some have

“Television is providing some sort of compensation for the social atomization that it itself has contributed to , and thus , all the simulated conviviality , while being a pleasant “dream,” is “pure wish fulfillment,” indeed, rather “phony,” and, perhaps, sad”(315).

(SIP-A) The TV has become the reality for many of the civilians in society such as Mildred, who are addicted to the TV because they believe that the TV is a reality. (STEWE-1)Montag asks Mildred for help and instead she doesn’t give him help because she is watching TV when Montag asks Mildred to turn off the TV,"'Will you turn the parlor off?''that's my family'" (47)people of society are barely human because the TV makes itself into reality and brainwashes people such as Mildred into thinking that she has a family on the TV. (STEWE-2)Also, when Montag sees Mildred go crazy over watching the White Clown he asks Mildred, “Millie? Does the white clown love you?”(73). Montag sees Mildred's addiction to technology and asks Mildred the question. Because of the reality that technology has made itself into, Mildred answers with ignorance, “Why did you ask a silly question like that?”(73). (SIP-B)One of the closest sane human in society, Faber, also agrees that television is only addicting because it becomes a perfect reality. (STEWE-1)When Montag replies to Faber’s second idea that society is missing Faber replies with“Off hours yes. But time to think?...” (80) Faber sees this and tells Montag that the TV makes itself the truth so people can become addicted, and to keep people occupied. As a result people are not thinking but rather stuck to a TV. (STEWE-2)“You play

Television is incorporated into my daily routine whether it is watching the news in the morning or a movie at night. When I watch the news in the morning I catch up on current events and other news. On the other hand. At night I watch movies for entertainment and enjoyment. Television is not just changing people into couch potatoes by watching “chasing fast cars, drinking lite beer, shooting each other t close range, etc.”, it also can be a daily tool to learn new things and catch up on current events.

Barbara Ehrenreich expresses her utter distaste for television in The Worst Years of Our Lives based in the 1980’s. Ehrenreich writes numerous assertions in regard to television’s unrealistic portrayal of every day life. She raises a valid argument when she points out that TV watchers will never see the commonplace facets of human life depicted on their TV screen. Instead, they watch shows filled with fake people, plastic smiles, ungenuine conversations, and unrealistic tasks all combined into a program that epitomizes the way in which we don’t live. Television distracts people from actually living their lives so instead they live vicariously through TV shows, wasting their lives away.

This essay definitely attempted to reach the reader at a personal level. Winn claimed that "parents have accepted a television-dominated family life so completely that they cannot see how the medium is involved in whatever problems they might be having ( p.442). This language suggests that Winn

Television can be considered a cultural forum. By cultural forum, this means issues and points of view can be discussed openly and almost without punishment. These issues can vary anywhere from male dominance in the household, to wars, to racism, to political jabs and still be covered under freedom of speech. Television can hold a wide variety of opinions which may offend, but for the most part due so to prove a point.

TV, more commonly known as ‘television’ is one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century. In ancient Greek tèle means ‘far', and in Latin visio means sight. From my perspective and many people of the world television has changed the way we live. Television has brought many amazing things, however nothing is perfect.

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

Can you believe that reality television has actually been around since 1948? Most of us may have thought that this idea of real television just came about in the last decade but actually it’s been around for quite some time. In 1948 Candid Camera was the first reality show to be broadcasted on television. Many considered this to be the “granddaddy” of the reality TV genre (History of reality TV). This show actually began in radio broadcasting. Allen Funt was the man in charge of this whole new production. He started by simply taping complaints of men in service and broadcasting them over the Armed Forces Radio. This is what later became known as the television show, Candid Camera. Candid Camera was known for

“What is television? What kinds of conversations does it permit? What are intellectual tendencies it encourages? What sort of culture does it produce?” (84) are a few of the questions Postman tries to address throughout the remainder of the book. He wants us to think of television as a medium rather than technology. Postman points out that we do not use television as a communication device, but as an entertainment device. The message of the material has been lost and the entrainment value has become what’s important. Because television is about visuals, it must be rapidly stimulating compared to a book where rational thought is being strategically laid

Watching television relaxes us. The almost undetectable screen flicker is a perfect mechanism for lowering our brain waves into the alpha state, the condition we're going for when we meditate. It's so effective that even those who

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.

Television, a telecommunication medium some may not survive without. Today’s generation may refer to television as a technological norm; delusional of a world where television was non-existent. Notably, television unites the nation through local or world events, politics, education, and entertainment. Philo Farnsworth, “Father of Television,” invented the television; the electronic transmission of fixed or mobile images. Furthermore, Farnsworth’s invention influenced a new form of media. Young Farnsworth’s scientific, technological imagination as well as, competitive battle with a major-league corporation, RCA, enticed the growth of one of the most popular media mediums; television.