beware of television essay

Beware of Television It is considered that one of the greatest inventions of the twentieth century—the television—completely changed the way of a person's life.. The effect of television

Beware of Television

It is considered that one of the greatest inventions of the twentieth

century—the television—completely changed the way of a person's life

Television has brought into every home a lot of information and easy-to-reach

entertainment Is its influence on the personality, family, or children

positive only or is there another side of the coin? Yes, there

is A negative

one The effect of television depends not only on the content of its programs,

but there are more general aspects of influence of TV viewing on intellectual

activity To make sure of that we need to look scrupulously at every aspect of

this phenomenon in general, not emphasizing on the quality and content of its

production

An abundance of information pouring into a person's

consciousness at a

fast pace does not allow him to analyze and comprehend it

properly For example,

let us make a comparison between reading and viewing The pace

of reading,

clearly, depends entirely upon the reader He may read as slowly

or as rapidly

as he can or wishes to read If he does not understand

something, he may stop

and reread it, or go in search of elucidation before continuing The reader can

accelerate his pace when the material is easy or less than

interesting, and slow

down when it is difficult or enthralling He can put down the book for a few

moments and cope with his emotions without fear of losing

anything

Unlike reading, the pace of the television experience cannot be

controlled by the viewer; he cannot slow down a delightful

program or speed up a

dreary one The images move too quickly He cannot use his own imagination to

invest the people and events portrayed on the screen with the personal meanings

that would help him understand and resolve relationships and conflicts in his

own life; he is under the power of the show creators'

imagination He becomes a

passive consumer of the TV production; like drugs or alcohol, the television

experience allows the participant to blot out the real world and enter into a

pleasurable and passive mental state Like an addict, he puts off other

activities to spend hour after hour watching TV and finds

television almost

irresistible

Television affects family life In the early sixties almost each

magazine articles about television was accompanied by a

photograph or

illustration showing a family cozily sitting together before the television set:

Dad with his arm around Mom's shoulder, children sitting around the parents

Who could have guessed that thirty or so years later Mom would be watching a

drama in the kitchen, the kids would be looking at cartoons in their room, while

Dad would be taking in the ball game in the living room? Nor did anyone imagine

the number of hours children would eventually devote to

television or the common

use of television by parents as a child pacifier

The adult has a vast backlog of real-life experience, the child has not

So, the influence of television on a child's consciousness is considerably

greater "Suppose there wasn't any TV—what do you think your child would do

with the time now spent watching TV?" This question was asked to

a large number

of mothers of first graders in survey published in the Surgeon General's Report

on Television and Social Behavior Ninety percent of mothers answered that

their child would be playing in some form or another if he were not watching

television Play is one of the most important activities to develop a child's

abilities Playing with others requires the child to suppress his own wishes

and desires to a certain degree, self-control must be learned Not only must

each child discover the need to suppress certain of his own

impulses, but he

must also discover the difficulties that attend the varying

levels of aggression

normally existing among his playmates The more aggressive child must learn to

find less aggressive ways to achieve his ends, while the

milder-natured child

must learn to protect himself and to maintain his integrity in the face of a

more forceful companion This horrible time-eater, the

television set, has

robbed the child of his normal opportunities to play, to talk, to do

Why don't parents restrict their children's TV consuming?

Of course,

they should not prohibit it because that would create an image of

"forbidden

fruit" and thus make it more attractive Only a wrong conception

of democracy

may help to explain why they have such difficulties controlling

TV But do you

allow your three-year-old son to walk around with a sharp knife

or allow your

little daughter to cross the street by herself? What's the

difference between

restricting television and protecting your child from other

danger that they say

they cannot control? Both are equally dangerous

I do not deny television has its positive qualities I

would like to

say only that it is a double-edged weapon and needs to be used with caution

Some say that everything is medicine and everything is poison, and only dose

determines what it would be We should learn to control that real and tangible

machine in our homes, so that it does not control us