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Influence of Visual Media

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Entertainment has brought many benefits and challenges to American culture today and has changed the way we communicate. Television is the main source of entertainment and most households across America have at least one television set in their home. There are many people who gather around the TV to have Super bowl parties, movie nights, and even game nights. Whoever has the bigger television usually wins the rights to throw the party. Families get together to watch the biggest new TV show that is on, such as American Idol. It is fun to sit with your family and watch some shows and have discussions about how it will end. It can bring families closer together. Another big form of visual entertainment is video games. There are so many “gamers” in the world today. Some children and teenagers are hard to pull away from the games. Video games have become more popular in the last ten years with all of the advancements in technology. You can now speak to many people around the world which enhances communication skills. They also help with problem solving and how to figure things out on their own. Sometimes, they can be a problem though. If not careful, too much time playing video games can hurt communication skills as well as become too lazy. The social influences of visual entertainment media can be positive and negative. The new smart television sets are on the shelves, and they are becoming more of a household necessity than a luxury. With this new technology, you have the ability to have everything you could want at your fingertips. YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, HuluPlus, Crackle, Yahoo and many more apps that can be downloaded to your TV, are there with the click of a button. In some cases, it is more convenient, but also lazy. Children are spending an extended amount of time on the television daily, and it is directly affecting their social skills. Although

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