television addiction Essay

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.

     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

Television has progressed and advanced over the years to become the cornerstone of leisure and entertainment. Television is an advanced method of storytelling and storytelling has existed since the birth of humanity. As opposed to storytelling, television allows us to experience stories for ourselves without leaving the comfort of our homes. It essentially allows us to simulate and experience human interaction without actually interacting. As a result, television has become embedded into our daily lifestyles. It has become a source of influence so much so that according to Robert MacNeil, “by the age of 20 you will have been exposed to at least 20,000 hours of television. Robert MacNeil wrote the article “The Trouble with Television” as a way to persuade the American people in recognizing the negative effects of television on society and its future.

Also, Television attacks more the unconsciousness rather than the consciousness. Hamill says that, similarly to drugs, television is a consciousness-altering instrument (64), but this is not true. First, television cannot do more than depictions of sensations. Hamill explains how television can provide several moods and scenarios with the simple touch of a button (64). He says so because he is looking for a proof to support the power over the mind that television is meant to have, but rather this shows how television works on the unconsciousness and how difficult it is to alter the

Watching television is a very controversial hobby, thus it can easily turn into an addiction. Television might keep us informed about our surroundings, as well as it might also make us completely unaware and ignorant; it all depends on what we decide to watch, and to what extent. For me, choosing a series or channel fully depends on my mood. When I feel like learning something new and interesting, I tend to watch a Ted Talk or a documentary of any topic or current event that intrigues me. But when I feel mad or frustrated, I watch reality shows because they are very funny, less complex and they help me to avoid unhappy thoughts.

These problems can be connected to television because in the modern age screens sap away the majority of Americans’ time, leading to the neglect of exercise and an absence of stimulating brain activity; this is best reiterated in the quote, “A report released by research firm ChildWise suggests that…children spend more time in front of a screen in one day than they spend exercising in the entire week” (Thomas 2011 n.p). The first way that television can negatively impact American health is that it has been proven to be a prominent reason for the rise of obesity. “Researchers…found children who watched just one hour of television a day were 50 to 60 percent more likely to be overweight and 58 to 73 percent more likely to be obese, compared to kids who watched less than an hour” (Olson 2015 n.p). With weight issues, however, Americans are at higher risks to develop even worse problems such as cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, prediabetes, diabetes, bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, cancer, osteoarthritis, stroke, multiple myeloma, and Hodgkin’s lymphoma (CDC 2015 n.p). Along with physical health complications come mental difficulties that can be traced back to television as well. According to the latest scientific studies done by neuroscientists in Japan, “Brain imaging (MRI) shows anatomical changes inside children’s brains after prolonged TV

TV can make you concentrate on the TV and not what’s going on around you. Like the dullest and the least gifted of us can achieve things that seem miraculous to those who never concentrate one anything. Sometimes you need to know what’s going on in your life and not

The author also states that television can discourage concentration. The article says, “Almost anything interesting and rewarding in life requires some constructive, consistently applied effort.” Television encourages people to apply no effort. It catches attention very easily. For example, if someone

Fox’s television shows, Glee, was an introduction to the frequent ‘social issues’ teenagers in America faced daily. Glee is a musical comedy drama. The cast are majority Caucasians and addressed topics commonly faced by children such as “cyber bullying, schools shootings, suicides” are just to name a few many issues. Once Glee’s season ended, Fox has always been a trendy television station. Fox needed an innovative television show to satisfy their audience. The entrance of Fox’s television shows “Empire”. “Empire is a powerful drama about a family dynasty set within the glamorous and sometimes dangerous world of hip-hop music” 1(Fox.com/Empire). Like ‘Glee’, Fox’s drama show Empire addresses a number of social issues as well that ‘currently plague America’s society’, specifically the African American community, such as ‘homosexuality’, ‘mental illness’, and ‘police brutality’.

Forty-three percent people can’t receive treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. Most people do not understand the struggle that comes with addiction. In the Film, Addiction, HBO follows real-life stories, relapses, and recovery of people struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. The film shows that for people not going through addiction they just say, “why cannot they just stop?” Or they believe a person has to hit “rock bottom” before a person battling addiction wants to get help.

The next argument of Marie Winn is effect of Television addiction is on our society. Addiction is a condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or involved in something. People are not aware of the dangers that can inflict on human mind and people are becoming socially unproductive. Television shows resort to sex and violence to capture their audiences and these shows negatively affect our young viewers and it’s becoming a major problem. The author mentioned in the article that average person spends about 1000 hours watching television each year. She also said like drug addict, a television addict thrives on a certain experience to get high and lives off the incredible experience we feel while watching television because we are not able to stop it. There are people who often use television as a

Can T.V. shows be the reflection of our society or influence the behavior of the members of our community? Since 1936 when television broadcasting begin, it priority was to inform and to entertain our society; subsequently, a massive amount of rules and regulations were created to control the material presented in TV, which principal goal was to safeguard the moral and ethical standards of it time. Nevertheless, from its beginning to the present home entertainment television standards contents have change; likewise, the moral an ethics values of our society have change and continuing changing from generation to generation. TV shows from the 50’s, 80’s, and the present exposed many changes in the way human role are exposed, the language

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

A major research concern for behavioral psychologists and sociologists today circles an integral part of the American family routine and life. Something that has become so inset into homes that it would be rare to find one without it. Research has shown a hidden danger lurking in our homes, and the origin may surprise you. Television has been around since the early 1950’s but behaviorists have just recently begun to start studying the effects these machines may have on children, social interaction and families. Research has begun to show negative consequences of television on children’s development and socialization proving that it does reduce and affect social interaction.

Television is a big part of today’s society. Everybody watches television, including the children. There is a potential problem with letting children watch television. Ask this question, would someone let their own child watch some of the programming that they watch, too? Some of these programs are intended for the adult generation, not young children. Violence has a major role in television these days. Letting children watch this violence could corrupt their minds and eventually lead to bad behavior. There needs to be a limitation on the types of television programming that parents let their children watch, because violence in television can negatively affect children.