TV & American Family

Impact on the Decline of the American Family

There are few influences on values in contemporary society that can compete with the influence of television. Television exerts an enormous influence on the development of children and is also capable of greatly influencing adults. The impact of television on cultural values has increased over the past few decades. This is true in terms of changing family constellations, with more single working parents and less time available for quality family interaction. According to 1995 Nielsen Media Research, the average child views 15,000 to 30,000 hours of television by the age of seventeen, compared to 11,000 to 16,000 hours in school, and 2000 hours or less quality time with parents (Walker 1). In Family Under Attack, Charles Walker also reveals some additional startling statistics, including the fact that television is the number one consumer of people's leisure time (Walker 1).

To make matters worse, family values are being undermined because of more than just increased exposure to television. Increased exposure to television has an impact on shaping values and development. Content also plays a significant role in undermining traditional family values and creating a deleterious impact on development. Because of lewd, vulgar, and filthy words and images being depicted on television, a Ratings System was put into place to help parents choose which shows were suitable for their children. However, a recent study b

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ke a drug that provides a pleasurable mental state that dulls the worries and anxieties of reality. Because of this, other experiences seem less pleasurable or more difficult even if we fool ourselves into thinking we could change our passive viewing habits any time we choose. In addition to these negative effects, excessive television viewing reduces the opportunity for other opportunities like talking, communicating, reading a book, exercising, or going to a museum. Terence McKenna argues that television is one of the most potentially lethal drugs of all time � a virtual electronic heroin. He believes its ability to manufacture unreal data as real cultural values makes it more of a threat than the Nazi propaganda machine of World War II, "Most unsettling of all is this: the content of television is not a vision but a manufactured data stream that can be to protect or impose cultural values. Thus we are confronted with an addictive and all-pervasive drug that delivers an experience whose message is whatever those who deal the drug wish it to be. Could anything provide a more fertile ground for fostering fascism and totalitarianism than this?" (Electronic 2). What is even more frightening in light of these views is the fact

Category: Science - T