Joshua McDonald
Professor Lesnick
English 101
7/28/14
Bye TV In society today, many people’s eyes are glued to the television. It is constantly within the reach of the general public. Throughout the world, television has not only become an important part of our everyday lives, but especially the media that is apart of it. Unfortunately, television isn’t always used in a way by which people receive the best possible benefits. Television does allow for cultural experiences amongst each other to be shared, and it features news and current events which allow for people to be more aware of other cultures. However, although there are benefits to watching television in moderation, people shouldn’t watch too much television because it destroys social interaction and negatively impacts mental development.

Leiusure time is defined as time that is spent away from work, chores, business, or education. People over the age of two today often spend, “more than 34 hours a week watching live television plus another three to six hours watching taped programs” (Hinckley). With 168 hours being in a week, people are spending more than 20% of their time watching television. Rather then spending time watching a screen, that time should be spent socially interacting with people within our communities. Often times, we read about crimes happening in our neighborhoods and cities when we had no clue what was going on. A prime example of this is my fifteen year old brother who spends his whole life looking at a screen. Our neighborhood in Germantown, MD has seen an increase in robbery. Recently, our neighbor’s car was broken into, and many items were stolen. After finding out about the burglary, my mom called my brother and asked if he knew anything about it. His answer was, “When did this happen? I was watching The Dark Knight Rises in the basement”. If the amount of television was reduced and that time was spent getting to know our peers, it could possibly even reduce the number of crime if people were more aware. We have truly left the days without technology were people actually had to walk over to people’s houses to talk rather then send a quick text. Social interacting is very important for the development of everyone especially that of children. Through social interaction, children are able to create a sense of self identity and learn expectations of other people. While learning expectations of others, you also pick up on appropriate behaviors such as sharing and cooperating. It is a shame that we are spending almost double the amount of time watching TV than we are socializing with people. As a whole, people have seemed to have forgotten what it is like to talk with people face-to-face.

Although watching television does take away from the must needed social interaction, we all need our down time. Resarch isn’t needed to tell you “to be truly productive, you cannot work every hour of the day. You need downtime – and that doesn’t mean doing chores in between answering emails”(Luke). Allowing for yourself to have that free time to do whatever you would like to do allows for you to be more productive in times where you need to be focused. As much as it seems like television provides numerous negative examples, that is not always the case. There are many shows on today where “watching other people’s triumphs can be really uplifting”(Luke). When looking at a show like “The Biggest Loser”, you see contestants make changes in their lifestyle and want to become healthier. Being a viewer of the show makes you think to get up and possibly change your eating and exercising habits. In addition to watching the triumphs of other people, we see shows that document the struggles of popular figures in our society. One show in particular is E:60 which is one of ESPN’s top shows. E:60 documents the lives of professional athletes who have struggled early on in their lifetime but have risen to a level of excellence. After watching some of the episodes, you begin to truly realize how blessed you are to be in situations that aren’t as harsh as the ones that you seen in the lives of these athletes.

In conclusion, people shouldn’t watch too much television has a negative impact both socially and psychologically. However, if we are going to watch it, we should do so with moderation. Television is a resource that we should learn to use through the right selection of shows by taking a critical approach towards it. By selecting the shows that we watch selectively it allows for TV to be a benefit in our lives.