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Effects of Television on Society

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Submitted By jasonhw74
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Bermudez 1
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September 2012 The effects of television on society are vast enough to be almost immeasurable. It is difficult to find an American citizen of any age (myself included) whose life has not been influenced by TV. The invention of TV was one of the most profoundly culture-changing developments of the 20th Century, and it continues to shape society in both obvious and subtle ways. In this essay I will try to identify and explore a major effect television has on society: the general decline of societal health. Certainly this premise is controversial, and many think that TV’s advantages enrich society more than the medium harms us. The term “societal health” and even the word “health” have many implications and mean different things to different people; I will focus on the physical health and mental health of our population, as they are commonly defined. Surely there will be some overlap when speaking of the sub-effects of these two areas. The first area of TV’s effects on society that I will discuss is human physical health. There is, undoubtedly, ample evidence that TV has made society less physically healthy in general. Since the inception of television in the 1940s, obesity rates have increased dramatically in America, especially among children. (Hicks, 1) While TV is not solely to blame, it is a major factor in our lifestyles which lead to poor health. TV-watching is, by nature, a sedentary activity. The vast majority of TV shows are consumed Bermudez 2 in a sitting or lying position; time spent watching TV replaces time spent exercising, being active, or playing outdoors. To make matters worse, people are more likely to eat junk food when watching -- and more of it. TV causes the viewer to lose track of how much he is snacking, making it easier to overeat. The abundance of junk-food advertisements, which seem to

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