Persuasive Essay on Television

September 2, 2011

The first known television service in the United Sates was in July of 1928. The broadcast was put out by C.F. Jenkins, who was given permission by the Federal Radio Commission to broadcast 48-line film images in a suburb of Washington D.C. Since then, television has come a long way. It has gone from single black and white images to a myriad of different options and possibilities, as a matter of fact, even 3D television is an option in today’s high technology dependent world. It was in 1931 when CBS, a station still intact today began the first seven day broadcasting scheduling. The lineup was much different than it is today. In 1931 CBS offered Mayor of New York Jimmy Walker, the Boswell sisters, George Gershwin, and Kate Smith, all of which were musicians with the exception of Mayor Walker. It was in 1939 when one of the most recognized T.V. stations today, NBC, started broadcasting a regular weekly schedule, opening with the New York World’s Fair. By 1947 there were 44,000 television sets in the United States with about 30,000 of them being in the New York area. By 1953 color television had been introduced to the Americans that had television sets. Now and days, television isn’t as few and far as it used to be. Over half of America’s population has a television set in their home, and 66 percent of those homes own more than one television set. Obviously there has been a large jump between 1953 when less than half of the population owned a T.V. to now where almost 99 percent of Americans own at least one. There has been much advancement in the television set as well. No longer do we have bulky sets that take up half of a room. There are many small sized options now, such as hanging them on the wall, or Plasma screen Television sets that are slimmer in size then regular standing sets. There have also been many advancements in what is being broadcasted as well as the changes in the sets themselves. The past’s three television stations have now turned into well over 1,000, although many of them broadcast the same type of programs. Along with many electronics, such as the television, come many negative effects. Television’s negative effects have just sprouted into the mainstream these past couple of years though. One negative effect of television is how it affects the social skills of children and young adults. Children who watch excessive amounts of television may begin to copy the behaviors that they see on the programs that they are watching. They may being to dress, act, or speak the way that a program they watch may depict. While this can be a good thing in some cases, in many it can lead to destructive behaviors that may not have been learned otherwise. Another negative aspect of too much television would be thee marks one is receiving in school. While some may argue that children can watch television and still be able to study and get good grades, research has shown a correlation between how much television is watched and how low the grades are. In almost all of the studies there proved to be a positive correlation, meaning that they found that with the more television watched, the lower the child’s grades were. Television clearly takes time away from a child that could be used to study is also time spent away from physical activity. It has also been shown, with no great surprise, that television can be factored into childhood obesity. Children now and days spend very little time outside playing and running around like they used to. T.V. is just much too acceptable, and many parents don’t regulate it like they should. Obesity in children has become one of the largest problems when it comes to Childhood health in America today. If television can be factored into, and rightly so, childhood obesity its clearly a problem. Getting away from the problems television causes children, we find ourselves on the topic of television fraud and misleading advertisements. There have been many cases in which television has played a part in coning many citizens of this country, and others as well. A commercial may be offering one thing, and when you come to buy it, it may be something completely different. False advertisement as become a big problem when it comes to television. An example of a good case of false advertisement is the many ads depicting television lawyers. There seem to be more and more advertisements for lawyers on television today. While many of them continue to be legitimate law firms the fact of the matter is that many law firms that are not able to adequately battle a claim are advertising about how many cases they’ve won or helped people with. This is a form of false advertisement because the law firm cannot make claims of cases they have won, when in actuality they may be fabricating their information quite a bit. People will undoubtedly go with a cheaper lawyer if one that is available is also advertised as an adequate lawyer. I have one last negative point about television, and that is reality television. Reality television is one of the largest viewed programming on television today. There are shows erupting onto the media scene such as Jersey Shore, Kate plus eight, and some older shows being revamped like Survivor. Although reality television never ceases to keep us entertained, it also exploits people to the fullest. Take for instance the show Kate plus eight. In this program, Kate, a single mother is raising her eight children. The show follows and documents them through their everyday life. However normal their lives seem to be, it isn’t like that when the show concludes for the season. The children are continually followed by other media outlets. This is interrupting their lives, showing just how not normal their childhood will become. None of the children are over the age of 12, yet they are exposed to the American audience because their mother is able to sign for them, giving them no known consent of their own. However negative I’ve depicted television, there are many good aspects of it as well. Originally one of the only channels you could receive when the television was first made was news stations. Stations that continue to broadcast national news are one positive aspect of television. They keep the American public informed about what is going on in the world, or in our country. They cover the Presidential elections as well, giving voters a greater understanding of the candidates that are running, allowing them information before they vote. Another positive aspect of television is educational value. Although there are many programs that continue to hold no value to anything, there are others that are quite educational. Take Word World as an example. I know for a fact, as I’ve watched the show with my younger brother that the show is one that youngsters should watch. In the show, children are taught how to spell words and basic grammar skills that many wouldn’t learn until first or second grade at least. Already I’ve seen improvements in my brother’s speech as English isn’t his first language. It is programming like this that helps rather than hinders children and is actually a benefit. In closing, television has been an integral part of American living since the late 1930’s. There are good points to television, such as education purposes and the news it provides readily to the general public. However, television in excess amounts has many negative effects. These negative effects far outweigh the positives and should be taken quite seriously.