TV ruined your life.

I asked a friend one day, “What would life be like without television?” She pondered over this for a moment and simply replied, “Let’s just say it would be incredibly different.” But really, what would it be like? Has television made such a huge impact on our lives that we cannot even imagine life without it?

Now I am positive that nearly every one of us watches TV, for entertainment, for education, or for news. It has been implicated into our life cycle, to the point that it has full influence on our actions, ranging from safety precautions, to high expectations, and to misguided notions of love and beauty. We have been exposed to television since an early age, and find ourselves so intertwined with it that most people can no longer see the difference between reality and fantasy; our entire judgment about things in life is based on what we see on TV.

Imagine a boy, about seven years old, with a look of innocence on his chubby face. He turns on the television and becomes entranced by an action movie, complete with guns, explosion, and blood. He thinks, “Wow! I can be just as cool as that guy who’s killing all the bad guys!” This is only the start. Soon he starts imitating the main character, throwing kicks and punches, and pointing an imaginary gun at his friends; before you know it, his violent behavior transforms into a habit that sticks with him for the rest of his life.

So maybe I am being melodramatic, but studies show that television has a prevalent impact on children. Because they are exposed to TV shows that promote violence, they feel a need to act it out themselves. Results of exposure to violent programming on television include an increased fear of the world around them, desensitization to violence in reality, most likely due to the association with humor, and an increased aggressive behavior. Jim Taylor points out that the media glamorizes violence, with 60% of TV shows that display violence, and influences children in believing it is perfectly fine to be aggressive.

Charlie Brooker claims that television has, in fact, “ruined your life.” TV has become an enormous influence in our actions, decisions, and beliefs, and it all started with a simple press of the on button on the remote control. What can we do to stop the influence? Perhaps nothing, since it has intertwined with our lives. However, because we are exposed to this influence at such an early age, we can start the change there. Parents are responsible for children, including their behaviors. In order to end the aggressive behaviors children imitate from TV programs, parents need to start monitoring what they can or cannot watch. It is a simple step, one that may or may not accomplish anything, but there is hope that one day the future generations will wake up to a world of reality, not of the fantasy television has used to cloud our judgment.

So yes, television has, indeed, created such a huge impact on our lives to the point we can no longer imagine life without it, but we can create a new impact, based on ourselves and not what we see on television.

Bibliography:

How TV Ruined Your Life. Prod. Zeppotron. Perf. Charlie Brooker. BBC, 2011.Youtube. Web. 6 Aug. 2011. .

"Television's Impact on Kids." Media Awareness Network. 2010. Web. 06 Aug. 2011. .

Taylor, Jim. "Know Thy Children's Enemy (Beware of the Dark Side)." Your Children Are under Attack: How Popular Culture Is Destroying Your Kids' Values, and How You Can Protect Them. Naperville, IL: Source, 2005. Print.