Television: Current State
Television has come a very long way since 1939 and in 2018 it is very uncommon for someone to not be binge-watching a show nowadays on Netflix or on television, that’s what all of the talks is usually about; “What show are you watching now?” or “Have you seen what just came out?!”. Television shows the ways that real life has changed drastically over the years from when television was first developed. George Gerbner touches on that in his article, “Society’s Storyteller: How TV Creates the Myths by Which We Live” when he states that “we live our lives in terms of the stories we tell.” (1997)
The topics being discussed throughout the paper are based on a few outside sources but mostly focus on the book Common Culture; the two more interesting articles in the book are, “Society’s Storyteller: How TV Creates the Myths by Which We Live” by George Gerbner and “TV Addiction” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi about how television has shaped our culture, the benefits of watching television, and some of the negative impacts of watching television.
How Television Has Shaped Culture
To begin, how big of an impact has the television that people watch shaped the culture in which society lives today. According to George Gerbner in his article “Society’s Storyteller: How TV Creates the Myths by Which We Live”, he states that a story is “an attempt to make the invisible visible.” The way most people think this can be interpreted by others is that it gives a new idea to feed off on how we think we should live, act, dress, eat, and socialize with others. Some people love to watch reality television shows, and, “Keeping up with the Kardashians” is an extremely popular one that a lot of girls try to model themselves after; with wide hips, tiny waists, and big breasts. Most women will go to drastic measures in order to fulfill this look so that society will accept them. The trend has gotten so big nowadays that women will get lip injections, tummy tucks, butt lifts, and any other plastic surgeries to try to get the attention they seek from males and the acceptance that they seek from females. Another way that reality television has influenced the culture is with unrealistic ideas about love, sex, family situations, and politics. Most people do not realize how big of an impact television has on their everyday lives. Some people cannot even go a full 24 hours without watching some form of television.
Today most parents try to use the television as a babysitter, or some will see the opposite end of the spectrum where parents do not want their child around a television at all, both can hinder a child. George Gerbner also says that it is the “overall socializing process” that kids grow up with. Some scholars believe that children who watch television for an extended amount of time will have problems socializing with other children or adults and could even form depression. Some authoritative figures have changed and ruined the way kids should grow to learn things on their own by experience, instead, they are watching kids, who are not even their age but portrayed to be younger and seem to be going through things that the children watching the shows, do not go through at that age. Most television shows and movies today, do not talk about real-world problems and if they do, they do not give them enough credit as to what is really going on.
Benefits of Watching Television
The second topic is how watching television could potentially be beneficial. If there were no television people would not be able to keep up with the live debates that are going on such as presidential or senate elections, news or weather, and even sports. For instance, if there was no television how would people be able to know what to wear outside because of the weather or know about anything that’s going on in the outside world. Other things that could benefit from watching television to learn new recipes on the cooking channel, seeing new places to potentially travel to, or even learning a new language. It is a great resource to advertise new merchandise on the market, homes for sale, and job opportunities.
Without television, there would not be such easy access to new items that could help someone in need medically, physically, or emotionally. Although most television commercials are persuasions and hoaxes in order to get people to buy their product it is almost as if the commercial narrators are asking just the right questions to make a person feel like they need to invest in the product or products being advertised. In some cases, that could just have a placebo effect on someone, or it could actually benefit them.
