TV Media and Popular Media

In the modern world, the mass media have turned out to be part of our daily life. The television is among the most common mass media that has become an integral aspect of the modern life. The number of individuals who has access to TV has risen rapidly over the last few years. This paper will explore various adverse impacts that can emanate from the same. Television has various adverse effects, among which is influencing people to adopt violent behaviors. In addition, the unfiltered media content promotes delinquency in the society. For example, many people have chosen delinquent behaviors such as engagement in crime, prostitution, drug abuse and others due to the TV content. Since delinquency is very common in the society today, an examination of how TV content promotes the same result is a topic worth studying.

Reputable authors, such as George Will, present supporting opinions to my idea. The author argues that, “TV connects are all about imitation”. George Will argues that all the things presented on TV are imitations and the actors never create something new. His arguments point out the adverse impacts that emanate from watching TV. He reveals that the TV content only increases delinquency in our societies (Will 2).

They increase the sexual content, degradation, and moreover they increase violence since they are full of violence-related content. George argues that any new content on the TV is just an addition to more violence and sexual content among others. In this case, I would agree with George Will that the content that is presented on TV does not help the society much as argued by Steve Johnson. The TV shows desensitize the society and they are accompanied by degrading morals. I strongly agree with the idea of George Will that TV contents are imitations and they are to be blamed for the high levels of delinquency in our societies today (Will 3).

Steve Johnson presents conflicting opinion in his article “TV makes us smarter”. He argues, “Television makes us intelligent.” The ideas that he presents shifts us from the old mentality of thinking that TV is always accompanied by negative impacts. Johnson further argues that watching TV is very beneficial since it also improves the cognition of individuals. Individuals will even try to make imaginations of what will happen, and this improves cognition. As individuals listen to different TV programs on the radio, they get to know a great abundance of things and they are even ready to explore additional source of knowledge (Steve 2).

However, this argument is refuted by Dona Steve, who argues that such an argument is bogus. She states that, “She could not make any sense from Steve….” Her core argument is that the content on the TV does not make someone smarter. According to her, Johnson is wrong since the content on TV does not challenge one to think outside the box. Johnson also argues that the makers of TV programs have realized that if an individual watches TV, he/she is very likely to watch the other programs. Since game makers have recognized this concept, they are busy developing games as they know that people will try them. Despite the fact that critics argue that Steve’s arguments are bogus, he is very clear by stating, that people should differentiate between the cognitive junk and nourished junk. The same reveals that he does not support parents to neglect their responsibility of checking what their children watch (Dona 2).

TV content is just imitations. I agree that TV content has negative impacts on the modern society. TV can be blamed as the primary cause of high delinquency levels that exist in the society nowadays. TV content is promoting violence and sexual harassment, which leads to a desensitized society.

Works Cited

Johnson, Steven. Watching TV Makes You Smarter. 2005. Web. 20 May. 2011.

Stevens, Donna. Thinking Outside the Idiot Box. 2012. Web. 12 February. 2012.

Will, George. Reality Television. 2004. Web. 8 January. 2004.