Connection to the World

A male Emperor penguin struggles to keep his egg warm as the harsh, icy, wind blows around him on the vast icy tundra. A group of penguins huddled at his back are struggling to do the same as they wait for their female mates to return from a two month hunting trip. The scene then switches to a news reporter speaking on the issue of North Korea and the recent threats to attack the U.S. with nuclear-tipped missiles. If not through television, how else would a regular person witness the majesty of the emperor penguin on a snowy tundra or learn of the threats coming from North Korea? Not all people have internet, but most do have cable television. Television is more beneficial than harmful in that it offers entertainment and a respite for the everyday hardworking person and a safe way experience certain life situations. Television is educational, circulates information, and provides relaxation.
The first reason television is beneficial is because it can be educational. Children’s shows today prove statement. For example, shows like Dora the Explorer and Ni Hao Kai-Lan are teaching the younger generation new foreign languages such as Spanish and Chinese. From my own personal experience working at a pediatrician’s office where the television was constantly playing shows like Ni Hao Kai-Lan and from sitting there with it playing in the background for so long, I ended up learning a lot of words in Mandarin and I wasn’t even paying attention. How much more can children learn when they actually are interested and watching?
In addition to teaching younger children other languages shows like Sesame Street, teach children the basics in our own English language, colors and letters. In fact, most cartoon shows provide “life lessons” through their stories varying from “don’t lie” to teaching a child the value of friends and family. Another great example is the show Wishbone. This show gets children familiar with famous literature or folklore. Wishbone was a television show which aired from 1995 to 1998 that featured a Jack Russell Terrier. The main character, a talking dog named Wishbone, lives with his owner Joe Talbot in the fictional modern town of Oakdale, Texas. As he tends to daydream about being the lead character of stories from classic literature, drawing parallels between the stories and events in the lives of Joe and his friends, he was known as “the little dog with a big imagination”. The show follows his daydreams, as Wishbone acts out a famous story from literature or folklore.” However, television isn’t educational just for the younger crowd; shows for adults have become more complex and intricate. Television series shows today require a lot more attention and are more cognitively demanding than they once were. To understand the a majority of the television shows today, one would have to make inferences and follow multiple story lines and track shifting social relationships. In addition to giving our minds a little “exercise”, television allows the everyday person to safely witness and experience a multitude of life experiences they normally wouldn’t be able to which in turn, teaches. There are also educational shows such as National Geographic, which allows people to see and learn about other places in the world they normally would not have been able to afford to visit themselves. But Animal Planet and National Geographic aren 't the only beneficial channels; network teen dramas can serve as a free sex-ed lesson for teens. Young girls who watched an episode of The OC that featured a character dealing with an unintended pregnancy said they would be more likely to practice safe sex, a study from the University of California Santa Barbara found. This is an example of being able to witness and in a way, experience a life situation safely with no sacrifice. Television isn’t just educational; it’s a way of effectively circulating information. Television is a medium of mass communication. Through news channels such as CNN and FOX news, the public is made aware of situations and politics from around the world. It allows people to become involved and aware of other cultures. However, those traditional news channels do hold back information at times due to professional constraints and what is or isn’t appropriate. In his essay “Fake” News versus “Real” News as Sources of Political Information, Jeffrey Jones provides evidence to prove that mainstream journalism is in a state of crisis such as the fact that the mainstream news media is in a certain agreement with the government on what to and not to release to the public. The authenticity of the content is questionable because a majority of the information is manipulated.
Late night talk shows, otherwise known as “fake” news shows, such as The Daily Show makes certain unreleased video clips relevant by pointing out how to interpret and read a person through them. For example one video clip of former president George W. Bush showed his tendency to lie, or in another video clip showed Kerry 's inability to commit to anything. I do agree that these videos hold relevance and that no information should be withheld from the public.
Finally, in addition to being educational and circulating news, television provides relaxation and respite from hectic everyday life. It’s a small mental getaway, of sorts, when a real vacation is not affordable (whether the currency is time or money). It is a way to relax without being bored. Like I mentioned before, television allows people to safely experience and witness certain situations. For instance, under normal circumstances would a person get a chance to witness and be part of a zombie apocalypse? One would hope not, but the exhilaration and entertainment a television show like The Walking Dead can provide, without being harmed is priceless. It’s a chance to space out for a while and be in another world. Many people know of the excitement one feels when a new episode of a favorite television is being released, it almost feels like a holiday when that joyous moment arises where all the questions from the previous episode are answered. It’s a time where people can forget their problems and be part of another world. Television cable series shows are getting more and more popular these days, for instance Showtime’s Dexter was able to draw in 2.4 million viewers for the premiere of its seventh season, HBO’s Trueblood with nearly 5.1 million viewers who tuned in for the premiere of the third season, AMC’s Breaking Bad with a total of 3.5 million viewers for the premiere of the fifth season, and many more popular television series are cable television shows On the physical level, studies have shown that people who were watching TV reported feelings passive and relaxed. The EEG studies show less mental stimulation, as measured by alpha brainwave production, during viewing than during reading. In Kubey’s article “Television Addiction is No Mere Metaphor”, he mentions “a body at rest tends to stay at rest” (124) However, the sense of relaxation ends when the set is turned off, but the feelings of passivity and lowered alertness continue. In conclusion, television does more good than bad. People don’t give television enough credit for all its benefits. It can teach, inform and entertain. It’s a method of getting away from the world for a little while. In addition it helps us all connect to each other. Television can be educational, relaxing, and it is easily the most effective and common method of circulating information.
Works Cited
Last name unavailable, Thomas. “Teacher Tom”: “Watching TV is Relaxing.” Teacher Tom. Teacher Toms Blog n.d. Web blog. July 9th 2011.
Koolstra, Cees and Beentjes Johannes. “Children 's vocabulary acquisition in a foreign language through watching subtitled television programs at home , Educational Technology Research and Development 1999, Volume 47, Issue 1, pp 51-60
Wagner, Jennifer. “Top Ten Benefits of Watching Television”. Connecting With Your Teens. Connecting With Your Teens n.d. Web.August 16, 2009.
Author Unknown. “Benefits of Watching Television" Study Mode. Study Mode n.d. Web. September 2011
Girdwain, Jessica. “How Watching TV has Health Benefits” Red Book Mag. Red Book Mag. n.d. Web. Date unknown
Johnson, Steve. “Watching TV Makes You Smarter” Common Culture 7th edition edited by Petracca, Michael and Sorapure, Madeliene. Copyright 2012 by Pearson Education Inc.
Jones, Jeffrey. “”Fake” News versus “Real” News as Sources of Political Information: The Daily Show and Postmodern Political Reality. Common Culture 7th edition edited by Petracca, Michael and Sorapure, Madeliene. Copyright 2012 by Pearson Education Inc.
Dunn, Jeff “30 TV Shows that Are Actually Educational” Edudemic. Edudemic n.d. Web. April 20, 2011
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly and Kubey, Robert. “Television Addiction Is No Mere Metaphor” Common Culture 7th edition edited by Petracca, Michael and Sorapure, Madeliene. Copyright 2012 by Pearson Education Inc.
Burns, Robert. “North Korea missile threat? North Korea 'closer ' to nuclear threat, says Pentagon” Associated Press. Associated Press n.d. Web. May 2, 2013.
O’Connell, Michael. “ 'Homeland ' Returns to 1.73 Million Viewers, 'Dexter ' Sets Record in Season 7”. The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, n.d. Web. 1 October, 2012
Seidman, Robert. “True Blood: How High Can It Go?” Tv By The Numbers. Zap2it, n.d. Web. 16 June, 2010
O’Connell, Michael. “ ' 'Breaking Bad ' Returns to Record 2.9 Million Viewers”. The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, n.d. Web. 16 July, 2012

Cited: Wagner, Jennifer. “Top Ten Benefits of Watching Television”. Connecting With Your Teens. Connecting With Your Teens n.d. Web.August 16, 2009. Author Unknown Dunn, Jeff “30 TV Shows that Are Actually Educational” Edudemic. Edudemic n.d. Web. April 20, 2011 Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly and Kubey, Robert Burns, Robert. “North Korea missile threat? North Korea 'closer ' to nuclear threat, says Pentagon” Associated Press. Associated Press n.d. Web. May 2, 2013. O’Connell, Michael. “ 'Homeland ' Returns to 1.73 Million Viewers, 'Dexter ' Sets Record in Season 7”. The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, n.d. Web. 1 October, 2012 Seidman, Robert O’Connell, Michael. “ ' 'Breaking Bad ' Returns to Record 2.9 Million Viewers”. The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, n.d. Web. 16 July, 2012