Television In Society

The Effects of Television on Today’s Society
Recent studies show that North American’s have more televisions than bathrooms in their homes. Television is a part of everyone’s life, even if you don’t watch it you are surrounded by those who do. Due to this large audience, this form of media can help shape societal development, while enjoying their favourite television shows people unknowingly absorb the political, social and economic messages that are assumed in the program. Television is a tool that can be used for both bad and good, it can be used to educate and allow people to see a world they might never have a chance to see in reality. However, television shows a small, distorted view of reality, which can damage people’s views of the real world, and this can influence how people think and behave.
To understand how television influences society we must first understand how society affects individuals. Through a process of socialization, everyone will learn how to behave in society by observing the behaviour of others. Before television children relied on close groups of family and peer groups to learn the art of socialization. Now however mass media allows millions of people to share a variety of identical

Television today is considered to be the most important and most respected form of transmitting information. It’s easy accessibility means that it has the largest audience of all forms of media and therefore the greatest impact. There is no denying that what happens on t.v influences people in society, what we must try to determine is to what extent. However the answer is hard to grasp because individuals, society and television as a mass medium are changing constantly. Television has the potential for both good and bad effects, but it does not act alone, society itself remains far more influential over the development and behaviour of individual human beings.