Television plays a major role in influencing the society of today.
What are your views?
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What are your favourite TV programmes?
Why are they your favourite?
How has it influenced you and the way you see the world?
(Intro and definition)
Televison – or what some American urban anthropologists would call “The Box” – has invariably
defined the lifestyles of human beings over the globe since its invention in the early 20th century.
Before its arrival, people relied on newspapers, journals and radio as means of communication
and entertainment. Never before has the human species been bombarded so intensely by a manmade tool with both sights and sounds – adding onto the human existential experience a new
dimension.
(Background info)
With the dawn of the television age and the proliferation of the television industry, human
societies have been greatly influenced by the television programmes and its contents. As much as
the saying “we are what we eat” applies to our dietary lifestyle, the phrase “we are what we
watch” may well apply to our ‘television diet’ too. Sociological and psychological researches and
experiments have been carried out throughout the last century to land some credibility to this
phrase --- thus far, there is a strong co-relation that links people’s social behaviour with the kind
of television programmes (or for that matter, programmes from other sources of media) that they
have been exposed to.
(Personal opinion and examples)
In a way, I am inclined to postulate/ hypothesize/ suggest/ put forth my views that there is a latent
persona in all of us that begs to be fed with the kind of TV programmes that would augment its
full potential. For example, if one is born with an innate tendency for aggressive disposition, the
individual might select TV programmes that may promote/ propagate aggressive actions to justify
one’s cause of actions. Or if one has a funny bone in him/her, the person might likely choose
comical TV programmes/ comedies that would ‘strengthen’ these bones.
(Counter views)
On the other hand/ Conversely, the other side of the argument is that TV programmes – or more
precisely – TV producers are merely producing shows that people want to watch. In other words,
TV programmes are not the social trend setter that actively influence societies, but are reflecting
the underlying current of social ethos that flows through the veins of its audience. “We are just
giving them what they want to watch” would be an imaginary claim by TV producers who are
defending their innocence…
(Conclusion)
I would like to conclude that there is a vicious cycle that exists in all modern/ capitalistic societies
where TV programmes do play a very crucial role in influencing the way we think and behave;
and the former do reflect to a certain extent the tastes of the people. The sheer power of the
economic drive behind this vicious cycle would guarantee that this almost seamless causal
relationship between TV programmes and general societal behaviour would live long and
prosper.
Are we then mindless slaves to this inescapable vicious cycle? Well, not unless we have the
moral courage to execute the obvious solution…unplug the cable. Period.