"A mother's hands are in the kitchen sink, deep in soap suds; her eye catches the oven clock. "Oops, the cake will be ready in four minutes," she mutters to herself. When she remembers that the baby should be awake soon, her two older children start arguing over who got to the club chair first. Desperate, the young mother cries out to the battling boys, "Go watch TV." The boys run to the television set and the dispute ends as soon as the TV is clicked on" (Rutstein 1). Many parents in today's society have turned their parenting responsibilities over to the television. They use the television not only as a calming method but as a babysitter and, worst of all, as a teacher. The "Good old American Family" of the past is now dead and gone; it is now the age of technological and media advancements. Families are growing farther and farther apart, and they don't even know it because they are so wrapped up in it themselves. .
The way that we now classify a family is entirely different than the classification system which we used in the 1950's. The familial units no longer represent mother, father, sister, brother, and the two family pets. The word family now takes on many different and unique meanings. There is a lot more left open for interpretation these days than what there was 50 years ago. The typical family in the 1950's was extremely different than the average family in today's society. Television has played a major role in that change; it has separated the members of the family and forced people farther apart from one another. When the television was first introduced to society, it had an entirely .
different significance. Most importantly, the television had a single domain in the living room, which was a place for all to watch. .
When the television was positioned in the living room, it was a family affair to watch the TV. Everyone would gather around after dad got home from work and either watch the news or a show or two before mom had dinner ready.