Influence of Television on the Behaviour and Attitude of People - Essay Example

 Somebody had said, 'I wish there were a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There's a knob called "brightness," but that doesn't work’. He must have delved deep into the role of television in modern society. Ever since this electronic device emerged in the early 20th century it has been known for its multi-faceted effects. This electronic device has its merits and demerits which are not unjustified. Before embarking on the impact of this magnetic device on our attitude and behaviour it will be prudent to understand how television has made its hold on the society as the most persuasive medium of communication. During the early days of television, the shows that were broadcasted were confined within the periphery of news, sports and educational shows with occasional movies and plays. With the gradual advancement in television it turned out to be the breeding ground of a plethora of subjects having unprecedented impact on its viewers. It is not long that the socially aware people realized that we have been colonized by a veritable ruler and our daily life has been monitored in accordance with the discretions of this box. They started to attribute the abrupt change in attitude and behaviour to the television. Television has played a revolutionary role as a mass medium to disseminate information at a much faster pace as compared to other forms of media. This helps in speeding up the learning process at an early age. It is only due to the television that we are better informed about the harder facts of life. The unique way of presenting information makes it more acceptable to the viewers. The informative television shows give us a detail picture of the incidents and give us the insight of the people residing in even the remotest corner of the world. National Geographic channel, for instance, enlightens its viewers with their well-researched shows on wildlife and various expeditions undertaken all around the world. Television bridges the age-differences and helps its viewers to get complete exposure to the outside world. Even the young viewers get complete thrill of venturing on an Amazon safari through television triggering their imaginative mind for their better. P66 (Wilbur Schramm, Jack Lyle and Edwin B. Parker) Television, as an audio-visual medium presents its subjects through powerful visual images which directly speak to the viewers. The images offer a great deal of information and have an enormous potential to shape the reality of the viewers. The sociologists are of the opinion that we act on the basis of perceptions of reality rather than on actual reality and television is a major contributor in shaping these perceptions. In television, the incidents are altered to make them appear more dramatic and exciting without bothering much about the impact of this bloated portrayal on the psyche of the viewers. p10 (Berger Arthur Asa) Television certainly emanates some vicious effects under the garb of a stylish and trendy looking tool of entertainment. When it comes to describe the impact of television it is not a difficult conjecture to make that our daily life activity and our attitude towards life is getting a heavy blow. It has been often found that aggression is the immediate effect which television has on most of its viewers. The researchers have inferred that television violence and aggressive behavior are positively and significantly correlated. According to the American Psychological Association Help Center, viewing violence leads to 3 adverse effects. Firstly, the viewers become more prone to learn aggressive behaviours and attitudes. Secondly, they become desensitized to real world violence. Finally, they develop a fear of being victimized. The violent portrayal of characters and their somewhat glorified contribution to the set series of incidents leads to the breeding of desire within the viewers to be one with those characters in real life. The second impact is more dangerous. Becoming desensitized to real world violence is the last thing the world would expect from the citizens. The fear of being victimized becomes deep-rooted and it takes toil on that individual. The affected ones tend to shut their doors before the world and choose to live a life of a paranoid. The tendency to be unsocial springs gradually from the towering belief that they have no space in the society and their existence is in danger. Television is perennially accused of misrepresenting society. Every channel has its own propaganda and often they tend to project news with their additional distortion. Such distorted news and half-truths are easily consumed by the viewers and they form an opinion on the basis of these facts. The daily soaps and dramas telecasted are often nowhere closer to reality. Such shows overpower our worldly senses and imbibe in us the conviction that the real society is what is being shown in the television. Similarly, watching devastating calamities on television have a deep psychological impact on both the young and old viewers. Watching these incidents triggers our persisting negative psychological feelings leading to total mood disturbance and a state of anxiety. (Szabo Attila & Hopkinson Katey L) If we are to gauge the consequences of this misrepresentation of society we have to face the harsh fact that people start assuming about the people, places and things as presented in soap operas and dramas. Thus, their view of the real world is influenced by what they see on television in totality. In order to identify themselves with the on-screen characters, we strive and ultimately reaches a stage when we have been completely transubstantiated. Our behaviours are modified to resemble the screen-people, since we feel that this is the normal way to lead our lives with success. (Echeat, 2008) It is the television which preaches children that rude and reckless behavior is more than just acceptable – it is glamorous. The sense of emotional attachments dies at such a tender age and they began to act impulsively, without any sense of repentance. They tend to ignore the advice of their parents and other elders since they fail to identify themselves as the objects of love and affection for their elders. It has also been observed that children with high TV consumption show apathy towards reading books and indulging in activities outside home. They also lose interest in curricular activities and hobbies. Television thrives on sensationalism and shock that appeal the viewers. There is no space for an insight in the television shows and that leads to a major vacuity within the minds of the viewers. For every human being it is quintessential to use his own skill set and sharpen his brain on a regular basis, which is not possible while watching television. The viewers lose the power of solving a problem through in-depth thinking. Wisdom deserts them and they are left as mere immovable objects and parasites unable to function as thinking being. The biggest negative impact of watching television is that it does not allow viewer’s participation. Religious watchers of television suffer from the inability to communicate with others and reciprocate human emotions. Staying glued to the colored screen and absorbing the rapid events in its entirety does affect the healthy development of an individual. Unlike in conversation where we get time to reflect, think and ask questions, television is a one-way traffic and we have no other option than to be at the receiving end. This lack of scope for reciprocity deprives us of our inherent power of thinking and we stay passive and unresponsive. Our reaction to stimulus becomes slow often leading to shrinkage of our inherent personality, thereby working toward a vindictive attitude. (Turborose, 2008) The forceful suspension of our free flowing imagination is directly responsible for our self-centered nature and our apathy to participate in constructive discourse. A sense of frustration lingers within which we fail to detect because it does not come to the surface. The pent-up frustration leads to depression and breeds ill-temper in us. The inner turbulence of being a misfit in the society (the feeling which has come for watching television) is outwardly manifested through sudden rage and reckless ness. They take up anti-social activities, which can be explained as their vent to frustration. Indiscriminate on-screen sexual scenes make way for early sexual initiation which has become major social and health issue. The adolescents end up repenting for such pre-mature acts. They find it difficult to maintain the mental equilibrium with so many easy distractions available in television. Even the grown-ups fail to be compatible with their surrounding and stand out as a misfit. They lose the sense of belonging and feel and they are wanted neither in the virtual world of television nor in their real life. Besides tempting you to choose the deplorable path and leading you to unaccepted habits like disrespect, confrontation and black shades of modernism, it is mainly through watching television that vice is spread within the community. It actually moulds the viewers and encourages them to have a distorted image of the society. This instrument of entertainment proves fatal when it comes to changing the attitude and behaviour of the people, and that too for the worse. In the modern times, television plays the dual role of informing the viewers as well as shaping their perceptions. It is responsible for offering a larger picture of the world and also changing the behavioral attitude of the viewers. It reinforces the values that are already introduced in the society by other external forces. Whether television influences you for the better or for the worse depends to a major extent on how we want to utilize this modern entertainment tool. We have to be judicious while watching television and absorb only what is required for our progressive development. It will be our task to identify the needless information shown on television and realize the difference between the reality and the projected reality on screen. This will certainly help us in making full use of television without any adverse effect on our behaviour. References Berger Arthur Asa, Television in Society, Transaction Publishers, 1987 Schramm, Wilbur, et al, Television in the Lives of Our Children, Stanford University Press, 1961 International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Volume 14, 2 May, 2007 “Television Programing”. Tuberose. 2008. Retrieved from: www.tuberose.com/Television_Programming.html on December 14, 2008 “The Effects of Television on Today’s Society”. Echeat, 1999. retrieved from: www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=30171 on December 14, 2008 How Television Viewing Affects Children. Family Issues Facts. Retrieved from: www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/4100.htm on December 14, 2008 “The Effects of Television Violence on Antisocial Behavior: A Meta-Analysis1. Retrieved from: crx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/21/4/516 on December 14, 2008 Read More