“Television became a mass
medium much faster than film, music, and radio. As it became more widespread,
television displaced radio—which had displaced national magazines—as the medium
providing a common set of experiences.” - Converging Media
Much like film, television
includes both sound and visuals. So why is TV more popular than film? Well, we
can watch it in the comfort of our own home for much less than the price of a
movie. When we go to the movies, we spend money on gas, tickets, food and
drinks… which can average to around $60 dollars for a family a four for ONE
night. Therefore, it would make more sense to just stay home, spend time with
your family and watch your favorite show or movie. Television provides
entertainment, information and education with several different forms of shows;
soap opera, comedy, sitcom, news, weather, sports, advertising, drama, etc.
Transmitting information live is common in news, weather, and sports. If you miss
a show also now there are recording options, which allows you to record programs
and play it back later; this is an example of time shifting.
According to our text
book, Converging Media, “…[T]here is
no doubt that television continues to have a profound effect on people’s
attitudes about a variety of social and cultural issues.” We all have our
favorite TV shows, and it’s pretty obvious that not all of them benefit us in
any way. Jersey Shore? Honey Boo Boo?! The SCSU Journalism Department, says in America today, young
people spend more time in front of the television than they do in class. By the
time an average American graduates from high school, he or she will have spent
about 12,000 hours in class and about 19,000 hours watching the tube. Yes
that’s right, ladies and gentlemen, this is our future generation.
The audio-visual feature
with televisions benefits us more than radio does, for example in sports, we’d
rather much watch the recap on television to see the footage than having to
listen to it on the radio and imagine it in our head. It makes for a more
appealing and entertaining experience. We listen to radio mostly in the car, as
a way to have some background noise or to not distract us fully. In our text
book, 98 percent of U.S. households have at least one TV. I can honestly say in
my house we have a television in every room except for two (not including
bathrooms of course). 8 televisions in one house seems a bit ridiculous for a 4
person household, if you ask me.
Throughout
the years the quality of TV’s have absolutely evolved with flat screen, LCTV,
HDTV, etc. It
will be no surprise in the future if we continue to see the upgrade in visual
and sound quality in our Televisions. Our textbook says, “the large screen,
flat-panel, high-definition displays have changed the television-viewing
experience, bringing nearly theater-quality sound and picture clarity to living
rooms and even 3-D viewing now.” It all makes sense now, right? Maybe in the
future we’ll get super fancy waterproof television screens in the shower. Just
today, I saw entertainment news and commercials on the screen of a gas pump.
What will they think of next?
What is fascinating about this article is the numbers. When analyzing the data, realizing that children will graduate from high school having watched double the television of hours spent in the classroom, it is quite shocking. To further intensify that data with personal experience, countless hours in the classroom are spent watching television. Programs such as Channel One (which was in my middle school) were shown daily for a 15 minute time slot (which amounts to 45 hours per school year, 90 total during my middle school years). On top of that, movies, shows, substitutes, and documentaries make up an additional quantity of hours.
ReplyDeleteTelevisions have taken over, especially with the ease and simplicity of installing a flat-screen in almost any space. It is correct that they now also advertise and show programming at gas stations, along with supermarkets, airports, airplanes, cars, buses, essentially anywhere you are, you have access to television and what it has to offer.
The development of TV as a medium, the popularity of it, and the quantity of available programming have grown over the past decades and we see TVs in so many places, at this point, if you find yourself somewhere without access to a TV, it is surprising. Our generation is addicted and with the advent of 3D TVs and new types of screens and interface, the next generation will have an addiction of its own we have yet to even understand. Erica is right, we love TV, and we will keep loving it more.