Emergence of Television as a Mass Medium and Leisure Time

Emergence of Television as a Mass Medium and Leisure Time

Early in the twentieth Century the advent of public radio broadcasting

brought cheap and effortless entertainment into the homes of millions

of people. The invention and use of television as a means of

channelling information on a wide scale was revolutionary. The world

had recognised how influential and useful a tool the radio was in

disseminating information and entertainment to the masses. The

inventors and founders of this communication revolution could not have

foreseen the effect that audio-visual broadcasting would have.

Television pictures brought to life what the audience could only

imagine before. As television technology improved the experience of

watching the television became altogether more real thus more

influential on the lives of those who watched it.

"Gentlemen, you have now invented the biggest time-waster of all time.

Use it well."

Isaac Schoenberg - head of the Marconi-EMI television development team

most probably did not anticipate when saying this that over seventy

years on, watching television would become the most popular leisure

activity almost worldwide. In 2002 around 85% of men and women watched

television everyday with full-time working adult males spending an

average of 5 hours a week watching television in their free time. The

population on average spend 17.1 hours per week watching television.

Compared to the 39 minutes the same (and vast) group spend reading for

pleasure - it clearly highlights the massive popularity of watching

television as a leisure activity. Barwise and Ehrenberg illustrate

this point;

"If…. a typical vie...

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not to own or regularly watch television. It is possible that most

people watch television, not solely for pleasure, but to 'keep up'

with everyone else. In this media saturated society - conformity seems

vital.

Television has most definitely changed the nature and scope of leisure

opportunities for all people - but simply by narrowing the minds of

most to believe that watching television and buying into what it has

to offer is the answer to all life's problems.

To access whether or not television has improved leisure

opportunities, the word 'improving' must first be defined. If

'improve' is taken to mean widen and improve choice and quality of

entertainment and leisure then it almost certainly has failed. This of

course is subjective opinion; doubtless the millions of 'happy'

consumers would disagree.