Television (TV) is an inescapable part of modern culture. We depend on TV for information, knowledge, news and entertainment. It can be argued that TV has become an inseparable part of humans’ daily routine.
With the recent explosion in satellite and digital specialty channels, it makes it even harder for TV to be separated from our lives as we now have access to a plethora of TV programmes which will enhance our lives in terms of entertaining us, informing us about up-to-date news and even learning more about the world we are living in. Yet, many people are very concerned with the negative influence of TV on us, especially our younger generation, due to the current trend of TV programmes which portray violence, sex and beauty as the norm we should embrace in our lives. These negative influences of TV have little value and hence do not contribute much to our lives. However, not all the TV programmes are of bad influence to our society.
There are in fact a huge amount of TV programmes that promote and spread good values, making it worthwhile to watch TV programmes. Hence, I disagree with the statement and believe that there is more value in watching television today. These days, programmes on TV often screen shows which have little true value but instead those with trivial subject matter. Majority of the shows screening on TV today revolve around superficial plot and shallow content which we, as a society do not agree with and uphold.
Reality TV shows such as ‘ Survivor’ and ‘ Apprentice’ have become shows that promote the negative aspect of life like cheating, backstabbing and teaming up against common enemies so as to win the prize money at the end of the show. These negative values that are spread by these reality programmes usually give the perception that materialism is the right way and the idea of getting wealthy equals good and happy life is the goal one should have in life. The danger in this is that viewers who watch this type of show are often young and impressionable and watch the shows unsupervised. Without the guidance from parents or any authority figures, our younger generation may fall into the trap of treating these values as the normal behavior one should have and results in distorted mentality towards life. This might not be a good outcome and in this light, watching TV adds little value to our lives.
More recently, a sharp fall in censorship has been observed. There is a percentage of high violent and sexual content in many of the movies and shows screened on TV. These shows glorify violence and showcase it as an acceptable mode of conflict resolution. They also portray casual and irresponsible attitude towards sex. These are threats that undermine the upright value we have in our society. With the introduction of cable TV into the market in the late 1990s, the amount of these shows screening is on the rise and it is easily accessible to younger generation.
This poses potential danger to the younger generation as they may be desensitized to such behavior and again face the risk of believing that it is absolutely fine and acceptable, devising a distorted mindset among the young. This does not contribute positively towards our society and does not add value to our lives. Some argued that since TV produces such a bad influence towards our lives, why do we still allow it to thrive in our society. Indeed, TV has created a wave of negative influence which has been highly opposed by many. Alas, the exponential and rapid growth of the global television industry has brought with it some constructive influences.
Education channels such as The History Channel, The Discovery and the National Geographic Channel have provided a refreshing alternative to those shoddy TV shows in the market. These educational channels promote education and spur the curiosity one has for their surrounding and the vast knowledge. Indeed, programmes from these education channels can be argued to be an effective classroom for us as one can learn new and interesting things every day from them. As such, these educational channels have been adding value by contributing positively towards the watching of TV. In the world we live in today, information is essential as it affects our daily lives and the way we go about carrying out our tasks. TV, as one of the fastest way to deliver information, is one of the best ways we can retrieve up-to-date news.
As our world is getting more globalised and connected, dynamism is something we have to address. It is important for people at one end of the world to be connected to the other end of the world within seconds as the happenings at each ends will affect each other. Staying on track with the rapid pace of our world is hence crucial. Stock traders are one example that need to stay on par with the pace of the world as fluctuation in any of the stock markets will affect their profits. Likewise, an average person have to pay attention to the news on the TV as it might give them information about any crisis or disaster that might hit, which will affect their way of lives. TV has thus allows us to be constantly aware of various global issues and hence allowing us to be prepared for any happenings and also give us a more complete global view.
This aspect of watching TV programmes has indeed added value to our lives and it benefits the human race as whole. TV has also been a powerful political and social advocacy in drawing attention of the world. It has called for many people to come together and act for the benefit of the world. The recent Sichuan earthquake was one great example to showcase to power of TV.
Within 24 hours after the earthquake struck, there as a worldwide call for aids and donation so as to rescue the victims and casualties. People around the world got to know about the earthquake through the live telecast on the TV. The constant updates and images sent back by the correspondents touched many people who watched it. Some television companies even set aside a special section in the daily night news so as to reach out to more people for aids and donation, since most families will be watching TV during night time.
The ability of TV in capturing attention from the world is a powerful one and it serves to benefit the world if people watch TV programmes. Hence, it is evident that TV might be a possible way to reach out to people for help and it might benefit those casualties who are affected by disasters if people around the world watch TV to get to know about it and are willing to give a helping hand. In conclusion, TV has generated negative influence like accepting violence and sex as the norm towards life and embracing them as the upright values in life. Moreover, TV has also distorted some of our younger generation’s mentality towards life as reality TV shows promote a different set of values like backstabbing and cheating which oppose the upright values our society already established. It might seem that watching TV nowadays is not a justifiable action as it does not add much value to our lives.
However, it is not always the case as there are many other TV shows that advocate positive values, which is inline with our already established social values. Education channels and news are some that spread merits to people. The spirit of curiosity and learning, the ability to stay connected with the world events and the strength of lending a helping in time of crisis are something that TV has been delivering to the viewers. TV is so vast that its parameters include both types of shows that add value to our lives and those that do not. The issue of being influence positively or negatively by watching TV actually depends on individual as each have the choice and rational mind to decide what is the best for him and what will not benefit him.
Watching TV can still be valuable today and it is possible to get the best out of watching TV if individual select the shows they watch carefully.
