Pete Hamill's Crack And The Box

In "Crack and the Box" Pete Hamill explains why he feels that watching television in excess has the same effects on you as doing drugs. He begins to state that both drugs and television have the effect of escaping a person from reality. If you are blocking everyone out while your watching television you are doing pretty much the same thing as you would drugs because using drugs make you feel like you are in your own little world like television can make you feel if you let it. Hamill's idea is that watching television is like an addictive drug. Of course, television can be a problem for some people but the majority of the time we spend watching television it's just a chance to sit back and relax. In my opinion, television can be a good or bad thing it all depends on how you choose to use it. Sometimes people abuse television by watching it constantly and never getting away from it. Many times people block out their family for television, not knowing they are actually doing it but its juts another type of an addiction .
My grandfather pretty much lived in front of the television and still does to this day.
While growing up my father never got to spend much time with his dad because every time he asked him to do something he always told him "wait until the news is off" or something like that, I feel somewhat sorry for my dad because he didn't get to have a normal son and father relationship because television revolved around his dads life. It may not sound all that bad but I'm sure it was for him, if my dad chose television over spending time with me it would hurt my feelings I'm sure. I think this might be the reason my dad doesn't watch much television because he is possibly afraid that he will end up doing his children like his father did to him all because of addiction to
television. While growing up I was not the type of child that stayed in front of the television all day long. Yes, I watch it but I am not hooked to it. I have noticed that I watch very little television each day, I'm more addicted to my computer than television. When I do watch television I sometimes learn things from it and sometimes find disturbing things I would rather not have seen. I think it depends on the channels you choose to watch or how long you watch it for it to put an impact on your life. In the story, Hamill has a point that television is somewhat like drugs but it's all about if you let it become that addictive. Some people can control their addiction to television but some can't, it's all about will power I guess, if you let it warp your mind then you will become a television freak but if you just watch it to relax then it's not that bad. I think everyone needs some television in their life to relax after a long hard day, without television how would we get our entertainment and the top news reports? I'm sure we could get it from movies or local newspapers but it wouldn't be the same as from live television. In the end, I think television is a good thing if you don't abuse it, it's all the viewers choice to make it fun entertainment or an addiction.