Positive and Negative Effects of TV's Invention

In the world of electronic technology, television has become a product in most households and has impacted society and America in many ways. TV was starting out in the 1940s and hit its golden age in the 1950s. It has improved incredibly since then and changed so many things between then and now. Many things are impacted by TVs such as entertainment, news, politics, culture, sex, and society. However, with some of this change, there are negative outcomes like mental and physical health effects. 

Television was an invention that unleashed so many things; some amongst which are pretty important. While television started appearing in more homes in the 1940s, it was invented in the 1920s. On September 7, 1927, Philo Farnsworth created the first ever functioning television system in his laboratory in San Francisco. However, the first television license in America was licensed to Charles Jenkins. Then, in 1930 the first commercial aired on Jenkin’s program “BBC”. This event began the regular TV transmissions. Over 2000 television sets were used world-wide in 1936. Since then, the quality of the display has been more clarified. More people bought televisions as they started getting cheaper and spreading to rural areas in 1948. At that time, about 1 million people had one set in their homes. However, most of the hype of televisions in the 1940s was avoided due to WWII. TV productions ceased so that the U.S. could work to help develop radar technology. So, few people had a TV set, which means most people relied on the radio to provide them with their news. With the 1950s rising, television has reached its golden era. By 1949, TV set prices had decreased, and Americans were buying 100,000 sets weekly. During the 40s few people even knew what a TV was. An article from Livinghistoryfarm.org stated, “According to one survey in 1950 before they got a TV, people listened to radio an average of nearly five hours a day. Within nine months after they bought a TV, they listened to the radio, but only for two hours a day. They watched TV for five hours a day” (TV Turns On). TV shows like 'I Love Lucy', 'The Honeymooners', 'Father Knows Best' and 'The Lone Ranger' were some of the most popular shows people loved watching. With the new options for entertainment, families with TV would gather around the little screen and watch it for hours throughout the week. There was something for everyone: news, comedy shows, sports, and cooking shows. Then of course with colored TV popularizing, and the remote control invented in ‘55, people had more reason to buy TVs. These little boxes gave people a window to the world. “CBS' news program - 'See It Now', took the world of TV by storm. This show was hosted by veteran news presenter Edward R. Murrow. It was a documentary series on public affairs that was telecast in sequences. Television in the 50s played a great role in making people aware of their surroundings, and the world'. This event was what made the 1950s the golden age of television, it was new, everyone wanted it, and it provided what was previously unavailable. Since the invention of television, society has considerably changed. Since the 40s, the TV has been advanced and greatly popularized so that almost every household has at least one set. With that and the growth of content available and that said content improving, people found themselves and their lifestyles change. 

So, what are some ways that TV impacted society? We all know that TV takes us away from going out and socializing, to simply sitting at home. It gets in the way of being with family and friends. Instead of going out for a walk on a nice day or reading a book, people waste their time watching empty content. The TV allows people to sit around for hours, looking at a screen. And usually, when people watch TV, they like to eat. So with this comes some serious weight gain. A Harvard study linked 'TV watching to obesity more than 25 years ago. Since then, extensive research has confirmed the link between TV viewing and obesity in children and adults, in countries around the world”. Another way that watching a lot of TV has affected the body is education-wise. Most of the content viewer's intake isn’t doing them any favors when it comes to school. The TV gets in the way of homework and studying, and it fills your head with a bunch of useless information. That information usually consumes useful things you learn. In short, TV tends to dumb people down. Truth is, there’s not many valuable outcomes of watching TV. A part of this negative outcome is the change in how society started thinking. Everything people see on TV affects how they think. Many studies have shown the unhealthy ways people have started thinking and behaving since TV was invented. People have unrealistic expectations of what they can do. TV put ideas into their heads on how they should act, look, and talk. Women get unhealthy self-images in their heads. Men try to imitate the men they see. Our society grew to have deleterious concepts of sex, love, and relationships. We that how TV affected those three daily. Children often view age-inappropriate content with violence, gore, and sex and that tends to create issues with their behavior and thinking. Livestrong.org wrote, “The average American child sees 200,000 acts of violence on TV before the age of 18, and these acts may cause kids to become more aggressive or desensitized to violence, warns KidsHealth.org”. The more parents don’t control what their children watch, the more harmful things their children will view. Society forgets that what they witness on TV is fake, and it shouldn’t be taken to practice. Another negative impact of TV is we let our good judgment and logic be disrupted by ideas we hear and see on the news. Society gets influenced by the negativity of this world that we see being displayed on the screen. People tell us what to think and what to do. People get fed lies, prejudice, and bias through the TV. Society relies on their ideas to come from what other people tell them instead of relying on the truth, but too often we don’t the truth from what we watch and hear on TV and the internet. 

However, while there are many harmful impacts of TV, there are some positive ones. For example, TV has opened our eyes to the world. We get to learn so many facts about different topics. TV helped us learn about what’s going on around us. Before TV, we learned things from the newspapers and the radio, but with TV people can just turn on the news. As for kids, there are all sorts of educational channels that teach about history and science. There’s also a way that what people watch brings them together. Like watching football with your friends and family or enjoying Home Alone on Christmas eve. There are also the benefits of knowing what is going on around us. We get that benefit by watching the news. Not to mention, society got to learn about culture, religion, and different countries and their people. It is so important to gain knowledge of the things outside America. With that, we gain understanding and respect. 

Point is, when done right, TV has opened our minds and given us a boost in one way or another. The invention of television didn’t simply impact society, but changed how people accessed things like entertainment, sports, and news forever. With television, especially these days, you have an all in one system. Before TV, when a movie was gone from the theatres, it was gone for good. You couldn’t buy a copy and didn’t have any way to watch the movies on your own. Then, with the TV you could finally watch the movie at home. Also, another thing TV changed advertising through commercials. Companies are making more money than before with commercial ads. With some of those ads, Americans think they need to buy a bunch of crap that they don’t need. TV shopping at one point was peaking and everyone wanted to buy what commercials effectively convinced them to do so. But it’s not just ads that had people whipping their credit cards out. As technology, advanced tv has advanced and grown into a sleek, high tech, and all-inclusive system. Now, you have cable plus other entertainment programs like Netflix, HULU, and Sling. People want the latest models of TV and all the fixings that come with enjoying it. So society spends hundreds of dollars a year to enjoy an up-to-date system that developed from the first Television. Frankly, many of the money people spend on that stuff could be put to better use. 

Overall, the invention of the television was a very effective product and it brought society a window to the world. There was so much that was unexplored before TV. We were opened to new forms of entertainment, attaining knowledge, culture, and education. Despite the problems that were introduced through television, it is still a necessary evil that came with transformational influence.