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Television has evolved tremendously through time. It has become a go-to source for most Americans. In the passage, “The Worst Years of Our Lives”, by Barbara Ehrenreich, she considers modern people as “couch potatoes” and that television has turned us into “root vegetables.” Ehrenreich does make a point about American people becoming lazy; however, comparing us to fictional characters on TV is questionable.…
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This argument is not to say that television is wrong altogether. This argument is for the opposite. The argument is to point out the importance of balance in the brain for educational purposes. In order to remain a sentient thinker, one must keep the balance strong and exercised. This is done in order to avoid a world of passivism; our minds must be active and thinking at all times. We must transcend the cultural norm to act upon the change needed in society and the world. Do not feed upon the passive narcissism that cultivates a self-centered society, but become a sentient reader and transcend the cultural…
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The “television” has been around for many decades, just consuming each person who takes notice to it. For the audience who watches television “day in” and “day out” they would become induced with what society portrays as righteous and imitate what they see (Ehrenreich). Ehrenreich states Americans will “begin to notice something eerie and unnatural about the world” meaning after watching hours of television Americans then would think of the world as mysterious and bizarre.…
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“So why do we keep on watching [Television]?” challenges Barbara Ehrenreich in, The Worst Years of Our Lives. Ehrenreich alleges that television “has transformed the American people into root vegetables” (2-3). Television as we know it is a way to escape the troubles of the real world and enter into a sense of fantasy. People sit for hours watching television which is harmful and may brainwash people to believe what they are told. Television was never invented to exemplify the real world; it was merely a distraction in the path of our trajectory. However Ehrenreich classifies modern Americans as couch potatoes simply because they do not accomplish anything that is displayed on television. I disagree with Ehrenreich’s assertions about television because she assumes everything portrayed in television is danger and thrills. Much of what is advertised on television is informative and important in society.…
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It is with these statistics that help support the idea that it seems almost impossible to even try to fathom a period of time when there were no such things as television sets in the American household, let alone there being no such thing as television. This time period seems to be primitive. Yet the issue at hand is that we fail to realize that television was not always around. Instead it was only first presented to the public less than 73 years ago in 1939. In fact to some, it is extremely surprising that television was not even popular among Americans until the 1950's. It was with this popularity that helped turn the spark, the effect that television had on Americans, into a wildfire that spread all over America. This very effect is one of the most…
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Why do we watch TV? Is it the draw to live vicariously through the miraculously genius doctors on House? The lure towards the dangerous lives of FBI agents on Criminal Minds? The attraction towards something new, something we don’t have in our own lives? In Barbara Ehrenreich’s The Worst Years of our Lives, this is the question she asks. People on TV, she points out, are never seen watching TV themselves. Modern man has become a couch potato, part of a society that would rather watch a football game, faces full of junk food and soda, than actually play one, all to avoid getting sweaty, or tired, or because it’s painful. Maybe we watch TV because the people on the television are more interesting than we are. They’re definitely more active.…
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4. An MLA-formatted works cited page, including citations for both the book as well as the documentary.…
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Throughout the past couple of centuries, our world has changed over a period of time. Everything has changed; generations, the way we live, nature and so much more. History is created every day, and at every moment without even realizing it. Our culture is a huge part of our everyday environment that we do not realize how incredibly significant they influence our lives. There are many important elements that have changed American society; for example the television. Television can be used as a tool to motivate learning and to increase awareness of public issues. Social Interaction, education, culture, and criminal exposure are some of the key reasons to why the television has played a significant role in our lives.…
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The insight provided by Barbara Ehrenreich is probably the sort of thing nobody would ever expect to hear--to the American audience, television is superior, all-knowing, and as time-consuming as sleep. In the twenty-first century at present, television has evolved internally, externally, and culturally. There is high-definition programming that supposedly increases the experience of watching, digital video recorders that allow people to set aside time to watch their favorite shows when they please, and remote controls that probably have Easy Bake Ovens should one decide to look hard enough. This is not to say that all television is necessarily a bad experience (what with National Geographic, the History Channel, and news programming on every other station), but for the most part, it has come to exist for the sole purpose of entertainment.…
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Televisions have only been around since their debut in the middle of the 20th century and have since become a huge part of everyday life here in America. Originally having good intentions, the television and watching of television in the last couple of decades has changed greatly. The amount of time people spend watching their televisions has also changed in the sense that people spend much more time in front of the television than they used to. Some argue that television has had a huge negative effect on American families. In her essay, “Television: The Plug-In-Drug,” Marie Winn explores the ways in which television has lowered the quality of family life, rituals, and values. She recognizes that there is a problem with our society and the way in which it is consistently influenced by television. She shows this when she says, “Television’s contribution to family life has been an equivocal one,” (Winn 353). Winn is true in saying this because television has caused children across America to have undeveloped intelligence, creativity, and imagination. TV is also detrimental to family life, family relationships, and outside relationships as well.…
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Family dinner is a special time when every family member stops what they are doing to spend quality time with one another. It is a time when we would catch up with each other and find out what everyone did during the day. We all had such busy schedules that the time spent together during dinner was one of the few times throughout the day that we were all able to be together as a family. There is nothing that can substitute for quality family time and that has been one of the biggest things that I have noticed since I started college. Time spent at dinner, no matter how miniscule it felt at the time, was one of the most significant events in my daily routine while I lived at home. College life has entirely changed the way that I eat. The most significant difference, personally, has been dinner time.…
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“The Golden Age of Television” brought many changes to America (Bhattacharyya). Modern America is not like America was in the 1940s and early 1950s, and one reason is because of television. Musical shows, children’s shows, movies, news, and so much more are on TV. Television doesn’t only entertain us, but it helps us in so many ways. We can learn from TV. Different educational channels are created to help us learn (Cochrane). TV is a way for us to get information, too, just like books and the Internet. Lastly, television can also affect people and their lives. Before TV, there was more interaction between people (www.printmoment.com). Today, there is not as much interaction and communication between people. As you can see, television helped shape modern America by helping people learn, affecting people’s lives, and brining new ways to broadcast information to Americans.…
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Americans way of life has become entangled with television that an entire new approach of acting has been created. Television has been present since the 1950’s, and has only been growing ever sense. It did not take long for the television industry to branch out and take full advantage of this technology’s potential. With the advancement in programming and increased financial support, the world and its marketplaces were brought into the living rooms of viewers. With this, society became exposed to commercial marketing, situation comedies and drama, sporting events, music and theatre, game and talk shows and world news. Television is one of the main sources of entertainment, and is a continuous presence in most Americans' lives. In, “Television Addiction Is No Mere Metaphor” Robert Kubey and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi go on to say, “how easily organisms can be harmed by that which they desire.” (123) The impact of television effects the way American people live and act in their environment, however having and watching television keeps in touch with the outside world through the information it provides across the television with programs such as news as well as educative programs.…
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Most of us want to think that watching long hours of TV has no effect on how we think, view or do things. While many people use TV as a way to block things out, I believe it takes effect on one’s personal self. According to the A.C. Nielsen CO, the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day. Can television cause effects on personal identity? For instance, as a result of people watching TV, it makes them shop more and over spend, because they fall into the materialistic part of TV. Due to the increased reality shows, there has been an undeniably decrease in societies usual routine. TV has caused effects on personal identity. It is designed to brain-wash if it’s not used in moderation. Although some people may think TV does not affect them, excessively watching TV causes laziness, inactiveness, impatience and much more. The effects that TV has on personal identity can change people’s ideas about violence, sex, money, drugs, diet, and quick fixes. Also if my mind is set on the positive part of something, I’ll hear something on TV that will open my mind up to negative thoughts. I’ve noticed when I don’t watch TV I spend more time doing other activities, like reading,…
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Television, TV, the tube. All these words are one thing that consumes people’s lives. Many inventions have come about in order to allow us to watch all our must see shows. Everything from TiVo to Netflix allows us to watch movies and shows we otherwise would have missed in our busy lives. It transports us to a different world for a few minutes or hours. The role of Television is that it allows everyday people to be transported to different worlds thus forgetting, if just for a couple minutes, their everyday lives.…
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