Television is doing Irreparable Harm
"Yes, but what did we use
to do before there was television?" How often we hear statements like
this! Television hasn't been with us all that long, but we are already
beginning to forget what the world was like without it.
Before we admitted the
one-eyed monster into our homes, we never found it difficult to occupy our
spare time. We used to enjoy civilised pleasures. For instance, we used to have
hobbies, we used to entertain our friends and be entertained by them, we used
to go outside for our amusements to theatres, cinemas, restaurants and sporting
events. We even used to read books and listen to music and broadcast talks
occasionally. All that belongs to the past.
Now all our free time is
regulated by the 'goggle box'. We rush home or gulp down our meals to be in
time for this or that programme. We have even given up sitting at table and
having a leisurely evening meal, exchanging the news of the day. A sandwich and
a glass of beer will do — anything providing it doesn't interfere with the
programme. The monster demands and obtains absolute silence and attention. If
any member of the family dares to open his mouth during a programme, he is
quickly silenced.
Whole generations are growing
up addicted to the telly. Food is left uneaten, homework undone and sleep is
lost. The telly is a universal pacifier. It is now standard practice for mother
to keep the children quiet by putting them in the living-room and turning on
the set. It doesn't matter that the children will watch rubbishy commercials or
spectacles of sadism and violence — so long as they are quiet.
Television encourages passive
enjoyment. We become content with second-hand experiences. It is so easy to sit
in our armchairs watching others working. Little by little, television cuts us
off from the real world. We get so lazy, we choose to spend a fine day in
semi-darkness, glued to our sets, rather than go out into the world itself.
Television may be a splendid
medium of communication, but it prevents us from communicating with each other.
We only become aware how totally irrelevant television is to real living when
we spend a holiday by the sea or in the mountains, far away from civilisation
in quiet, natural surroundings, we quickly discover how little we miss the
hypnotic tyranny of King Telly.
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