Television had always existed in the living room since I remembered. I did not realize television’s impacts on individuals because I thought of it as an appliance. Although not many see the impacts of television, the author named Marie Winn wrote the article “Television: The Plug-In Drug” that points out television’s negative impacts on family. Winn argues that television is not a good asset in the house because it complicates the relationships and family rituals. The relationships bonds decreased due to many television sets in a house. With many television sets, the family members are more attentive to the television than communicating with each other. Eric Schlosser, author of “Kid Kustomers,” has facts that affected relationships from scientific studies. A few scientific studies are about advertisements targeting at kids and the kid’s nagging tactics. These studies support Winn’s view on how television is harm to our relationship, family members, and us. Negative factors of television give me the belief that television does cause harm to our families. Television harms us since it does not give us the ability to think twice whether we want to buy the miscellaneous or not. According to Winn, television affects families because it changes their way of living life. Two changes are with the family relationships and with the individuals in the households. Television diminishes the family relationship among family members. In Winn’s article, she argues against a statement from a television critic in 1949 that television would bring families together and argues against the statement, saying that a “…multiple-set family was something the early writings did not foresee.” (Winn, p. 439). In other words, she argues that television harms... ... middle of paper ... ...ike the Superbowl. Because families can’t afford the ticket to the game, while the Superbowl is on the television, it allows family to bond over a sport and the commercials playing. This is a positive aspect of television, but this only happens once a year. Television has impacted family relationships. Television had affected family’s life negatively. The television’s impacts have been overseen on its effects. If family members are willing to spend time doing outside activities or a home game with one another often and forget that the television exists, relationship bonds can increase. Spending time with family and a group of people you are close to is bonding and can decrease the negative effects television is providing to us. Works Cited Schlosser, Eric. "Kid's Kustomers." 353-357. Article. Winn, Marie. "Television: "The Plug-In Drug" (1977): 438-447. Article.
Marie Winn claims that television over the years have effected many American family life. Since television is everyday ritual, many American tend to spent more time with television than they do with their family and this result in unhealthy relation in family. She also acknowledge that television destroy family unique quality that they carry, such reading, cooking, games, songs and other special rituals.
In conclusion, I will say that television has changed the way families were and are because when parents use television as a baby sitter they began to lose touch with their children. Also, television affected how a child would progress physically or mentally. We as parents should spend more time with our children and cut down the television time. The relationships that build between parents and children throughout their lives have a long lasting impact on what kind of person he or she will become.
It is to the point that we have to redirect our attention with one screen to another just to spend time with family. For example in William Powers “Hamlet’s BlackBerry,” television does just this, “For us, television had always been a mostly communal experience, a way of coming together rather than pulling apart. (‘Can you please turn off your damn computer and come watch television with the rest of the family,’ the dad now cries to the teen-ager)”
Morgan, M., Sinorielli, N., (1990) Television and the Family: The Cultivation Perspective (pp. 333-347) Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
The entertainment that television is now portraying is not exactly what the younger society of America needs to be exposed to, but unfortunately in today's economy that is the only kind of entertainment that sells. There is so much unnecessary exposure to violence, aggressive behavior, and sexual acts now being broadcasted daily on television, movies, music, and even the news. The broadcasting systems are now targeting younger children and teens. The crime rates have skyrocketed due to delinquent juvenile behavior over the past ten years. The whole viewing society is now becoming very tolerant and at ease with sex and violence. Youth and children are picking up on these behaviors daily. Studies have shown that by the age of 18, the average American teen will have viewed around 200,000 acts of violence on television. The violence and sexual content that television and music are now portraying has negatively influenced younger children and teens to commit murder, exhibit aggressive behavior, and become tolerant of violence and sex.
A television in the home wasn’t just a family time activity, the radio serials of earlier generations were similar, but with the images and nationwide spectrum brought into the home, it was easier conceptualize the events of the world. The television was becoming a window to the world, sitcom dramas and the nightly news were stark contrasts, seeing your favorite characters live their lives was nice but when the news told of warfare and hidden communist threats. Society began to see that other groups in the nation weren’t like the nuclear family, that many events on the nightly news were real and not rumors and easily dismissed. The influence of advertising and television, gave people the idea of items and status equaling happiness, economic prosperity led to the replacement of family functions. Ind...
Mares, M., & Verma, S. (2015). Television and Its Effects on Interfamilial Relationships. Retrieved September 28,
I never realized the impact television has had on my family until recently. My parents divorced eleven years ago, resulting in my sisters and I being raised in a single parent household. My mom decided to go back to school and get her degree; soon after she met the man she would marry and become our stepdad. Our family transformed from a nuclear family, to a single parent family to a mixed family. My mom had made a career for herself instead of being the stay at home mom like we saw in the traditional nuclear families. I was truly shocked to see how closely television shows resembles my own family. It is safe to say that television has progressed the culture of American families everywhere, even our
As many people know modern television produces many good and bad consequences to the viewer. However, as a whole, the positive effects of TV clearly out weight the negative ones. In Barbara Ehrenreich’s passage, The Worst Years of Our Lives, she asserts that what’s being televised, immobilizes the viewer from actually doing the activities portrayed on TV. Yet, all the events on television have been imitated from what is going on in real life. Television is not something that drains a person from everyday activities, but something that encourages them to try new ones and escape the crazy, stressful moments of life. Not only is TV something that exemplifies new hobbies that can be taken on, but it is also a moment where a family can come together and laugh at all those funny moments in Full House and The Simpsons. Lastly, and possibly most importantly it informs people on what’s going on around
Society today tends to fixate on and gravitate to television shows. Certain people even believe some of the families depicted on these shows are what a normal family should be. There are two types of television networks, broadcast and cable. Broadcast television stations are the channels that air for free, while cable you pay a subscription for. While television is a great platform for various issues and ideas, I believe that most broadcast television stations’ depictions do not accurately represent families are or what they go through. For example, while soap operas tend to be exceedingly sensational and over the top, most comedies gloss over the terrible things that may befall a family. Gritty crime shows and other dramas try to portray families more accurately, but still must follow certain rules. For this reason, dramas still tend to be unrealistic. The recent rise of popular cable television programs highlight key content regulations that contribute heavily to inaccurate family portrayals and ultimately, the broadcast networks’ decline. I believe these regulations on content are outdated.
Without a doubt, television is the central and principal form of communication in many people’s lives. This form is most often exposed to a child who instantly becomes accustomed to its presence. Children are televisions largest audience, as Morris shows, “Children aged two to five look at the TV tube on an average of 28.4 hours a week; those between the ages of six and eleven average 23.6 hours a week”. Television has played an important role in many children’s lives and its viewing has been a favorite activity for many of them. The effects of television on children have been disputed. Some people have said that viewing time has a negative impact on children. Other people, however, feel that the early educational television productions for children help tehm learn.
In the argumentative essay “T.V. Addiction” by Marie Winn, Winn relates watching television to having an addiction with drugs and alcohol. The television experience allows us to escape from the real world and enter into a pleasurable and peaceful mental state. When it comes to television, Marie asks the following question: Is there a kind of television viewing that falls into the more serious category of destruction addiction? I believe there is. Why do so many people, instead of doing what they’re supposed to be doing, put everything on hold and just focus on television? I think this is because they want an escape from their problems.
Some individuals may decide to spend their free time watching television to fulfill their entertainment, ignoring the fact that they are also missing out on their time as a family. Television can become so addictive to the point where people are putting their full attention on it and leaving out their communication with their parents, children, siblings, partner etc. We choose to sit on a sofa by ourselves instead of going out with the persons we do not get to see as often, talking to a friend on the phone, or eating dinner with our family to share how each other 's day was. It may seem unreal, but if we waste our time watching too much Television it may cause a lack of communication among the people we love. Without knowing we may be getting further apart from them and affecting the relationship we have built. I can assuredly say this because I have experienced it in my past. When I was younger, my favorite part about getting home from school was that I was free to do whatever I wanted to do after doing homework and chores around the house. I chose to sit on my couch and watch TV for the rest of the evening almost every single day. My parents started noticing that I was spending too much time watching TV but I always denied it and thought that there was no such thing as “too much”. Eventually my relationship with my parents started failing and I noticed that I was not communicating with
Watching television is one of the most popular pastimes in the world. Almost all children do so; some even take the liberty of slipping out of bed unnoticed at night just to watch a show that they like. However, what most people do not realize is that television can ruin your eyesight, cause lack of concentration and can also inculcate many bad habits, especially in young ones. Discoveries and invention of devices are always welcome till we, humans, find a way to abuse its benefits and be adversely affected by it. This was the case when Wilhelm Roentgen discovered x-ray and within five years, the British Army was using a mobile x-ray unit to locate bullets and shrapnel in wounded soldiers in the Sudan. television was also invented with positive thoughts in mind – there would be no national borders, education and communication would be worldwide, etc.
Brieanna- The overall statement Winn explains is that televisions have a negative influence on family rituals and individual lives. In high school, my life revolved around my dance schedule. At least five times a week I would miss out on eating dinner with my family at the dinner table. I would be eating a microwavable dinner in the car. My brother is also heavily involved in soccer and there were some days where I wouldn’t even see him. The only chance I had time to sit down and spend time with my family and talk about our day was in front of the television watching a reality TV show. Television in