television's cultural impact

Televisions impact on the world has been nothing less than immense. In the early days of the technology’s invention, the act of viewing moving images was awe inspiring and changed the way people thought about their world. As has television changed and evolved, so too have the people who use television and the way in which it effects our daily lives. The question is, however, has this changed us for the better or simply made us grow further apart from each other in this ever expanding global community?
It has been widely documented that children watch more and more television each year. With each generation, children spend more time in front of the television and what they watch has more impact on their daily lives. The children of our generation utilized the television far more than the generation of our parents. This, however, may not be a positive association. How much is a child’s developmental skills are lost in the world of television? Children learn through action, and television is inherently a non-action based activity. Is a child’s ability to share, have good social skills, and learn about his or her environment combatable with excessive amounts of television use?
This cause and effect relationship is not simply located in the United States. The negative effects of television were documented in a study of a small island community near the coast of Ireland. There were only 40 inhabitants on the island in 1990. This made the gathering of data and local sentiment very easy when compared to other larger demographics. The main sentiment found on the island? Television, unlike the radio and telephone, was seen as a very negative innovation. One citizen said, “The television changed the people. We know what’s going on all over the world now but we couldn’t tell you what’s happening down the road. Every fellow do be moaning about it and how it is no good, and there is nothing worth watching on it, but however bad it is everyone watches it” (Betteridge 1997). This demonstrates how even in a small and highly remote part of the world, television’s effect is mostly negative. It highlights that despite the unwillingness to participate in watching television, individuals are inevitably drawn into the act. If this is the case on a small, close knit island community (of which most individuals are adults and capable of making decisions with a clear mind), then the effects on children in the larger context of the global society are staggering.
While television clearly does have some positive value, I feel that the overall effect (especially on children) is a negative one. Rather than watching television for “x” hours a day, think of the immense accomplishments one could contribute to his or her own life as well as to society as a whole. With the amount of time spent in front of a TV only grows, what kind of role will this technology play in the lives of our children?, and their children? Though there are actions being taken to improve the technology’s role, the overall dependency on our televisions is negative and worsening.




Betteridge, Jenie (1997). Answering Back: The Telephone, Modernity, and Everyday Life. Media Culture and Society 19 (4).