Television is the number one technology created partly for media exposure. The other part is for brainwashing. (What? You didn’t know you had to have the latest IPhone or you’d die?) Today, news and information in the United States is fed 24 hours a day from all over the world. Television is used to entertain, showcase goods and services, and influence spending. Television is intended to reach a large number of people of all ages, ethnic groups, and backgrounds. We have loved television since the first day it was born to public broadcasting in the United States in the 1930s to its explosion of color in 1950s to its mega empire today known as cable. But what does television really do to us? If we ingest the right amount, we can become informed, intelligent human beings, yet too much of it turns our brains to mush. We begin to accept things that, if done in the real world, would get us put in jail. Television can harden us to bad behavior and language. It can make women think it is OKAY to dress in video costume while shopping for groceries and make men think it is OKAY to go bankrupt buying the next biggest, fastest car, electronic, or “IT” thing. Television is so powerful, it can shape the way we think about a certain group of people even without getting to know them. TV is a wonderful powerhouse of technology yet has so much potential to turn us bad. Question for you TV buffs (or couch potatoes as you’re fondly called): Is there a way I can create a channel that plays only the types of shows I like – similar to selecting special music for an IPod? I would LOVE to hear from you.
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