Television now plays an important role in our life. It is difficult to say if it is good or bad for us.
It is clear that television has advantages and disadvantages. But are there more advantages than disadvantages?
In the first place television is an entertainment. But it is not only a convenient entertainment. For a family of three, four or five, for example, it is more convenient and less expensive to sit comfortably at home than to go out to find entertainment in other places. They don't have to pay for expensive seats at the theatre or the cinema. They turn on the TV set and can see interesting films, concerts, football matches.
But some people think that it's bad to watch TV. Those who watch TV need do nothing. We are passive when we watch TV.
Television shows us many interesting programmes. But again there is a disadvantage here: we watch TV every evening, and it begins to dominate our lives. My friend told me that when his TV set broke down, he and his family found that they had more time to do things and to talk to each other.
There are other arguments for and against television. Very often the programmes are bad. At the same time it is very convenient for old people. But is it good for children?
Since television is such a significant part of our lives we have to wonder whether or not it has an affect on us.If we look at how we were brought up we can see how in many ways our lives have common elements with TV. In the way we dress, act, from the people we hang around with, and the way we take part in everyday life. Also we can see that television and media have played their role in bringing a various of different things into our culture.
We use TV for two main reasons:information and entertainment;
Informational use of TV isn’t always a wise option. It isn’t an accurate source of information. Situation get worse if we rely only on this source of information without backing it up with other sources (newspapers, magazines, books, Internet, etc.).
Many people report that after they watch TV for a long time, they feel no more happier but more tired, and feel sorry that they have spent so much time watching TV.
Living without TV we can become more productive; gain a lot of time for more constructive activities (reading, exercising, socializing, etc.); friends and family relationships become more close and gratifying; healthier eyes, the radiations that tube produce may hurt our eyes (if you don’t have plasma), distance must be at least 2,2 m; TV may be manipulative;
We can see that television has played several roles in our lives at shaping who we are. We can see from various media stereotypes and from our viewing habits that in fact television is an important part of our everyday life, and will continue to be for some time to come.