Television-Argumentative Essay #1

In this day and age of technology, television has been widely used as the most common telecommunication tool between an individual with the rest of the world. “It is estimated that more than ninety per cent of households in developed countries have at least one television set.” (Sharif 1999, p.34) According to American Time Use Survey (2003), it is found that population nowadays were spending a huge portion of time watching television programmes rather than other leisure and sports activities. As a result, there were concerns arrived from many parties such as the psychologists and parents to urge the responsible authority to take this issue seriously so that prompt actions can be taken to solve the problems. Some mention that extensive television viewing will contribute to various harmful consequences, but I strongly believe that television viewing has got the capacity to invite benefits to the viewers such as improvement on global knowledge, introduction of additional dimension to learning and entertainment mean.

First and foremost, television programmes help to improve people’s global knowledge better than other academic tools like books and journals. Assessment to the latest current events of local and world significance can be made quickly and easily with television news programmes available nowadays. In most of the time, this knowledge can inspire the public to become involved and to exert pressure on councils, major companies, and even national government, so that a better standard of living is achieved. Indirectly, television plays a key role in the process of democracy establishment as responses from the television audience are usually taken into consideration in decision-making process of government policies (Rutherford 2002). Furthermore, children who watch television programmes can actually get to know more about their cultural identities and the contribution of other cultures. Subsequently, this will lead to further development of knowledge and attitude in children. At the same time, these children tend to develop a larger vocabulary through a series of educational television programmes (Leigh 2001).

On the other hand, it cannot be denied that television programmes do provide an additional dimension to learning. In schools, television is commonly used as a teaching aid because students are more likely to understand and retain information they have seen and heard rather than merely read. Besides, television is an exciting and engaging medium that encourages critical thinking about important issues on a wide range of human problems ranging from globalization to homelessness (Leigh 2001). As we are informed, critical thinking can have a major impact on the process of learning as it is a necessary skill in both social settings and at schools (Sharif 1999).

In addition, television can lead to an increase in entertainment and enjoyment in young people’s life on a moderate basis. Young people nowadays are overstressed and frustrated easily as a result of increasing demands and expectations placed on them. By engrossing in a programme, they can have the opportunity to relax their minds and refresh themselves. For those who are interesting in exploring new information around the world, television programmes can definitely give them a wealth of information, allowing them to experience the culture and beauty of other parts of the world, capture the excitement and wonder of the animal kingdom, and work through the most complicated steps of a scientific equation in an entertaining and enjoyable manner (Rutherford 2002).

As a conclusion, watching television programmes does benefit the viewers in terms of improving global knowledge, providing an additional dimension to learning and allowing more entertainment to people. Although many parties argue that the invention of television brings more harm than good, I strongly believe that television viewing can encourage many advantages to the population especially to students as long as it is not abused by users. We should not put the blame on the invention of television regarding the negative effects arisen from television viewing, but we have to appreciate the development of technology. If we could make use of the television in wise and appropriate manner, I am sure that this technology can certainly help us to open up our minds and even make a difference along the pathway in our lives.