It is hard to imagine what life would be like without TV. It has become such a prevalent part of life. But the television was not invented until the early 1900's. This invention cannot be credited to a single inventor; rather, it is the composite of many different electronic advances made by several different people across the world. Despite its existence in the early 1900's, it was not available to the everyday consumer until after World War II. Fewer than 7,000 televisions existed in the United States in 1945. At this point in time, there were only 9 stations that were broadcasting. Nowadays there are over 1,000 stations. When the television first came out, shows were only shown in black and white. However, television sales increased to 1.5 million when the color TV was introduced in 1951 [1]. Since then the television has become a common household object. It is estimated that 99 percent of all households have at least one TV. Many have the TV on for at least six hours a day [2]. This allows us to be exposed to a variety of issues in a single day. Whether or not it is being watched, it is still being heard.
Because television is so prevalent in everyday life, it has a significant impact on many aspects of our lives. Everyone watches TV. It is viewed so often that people's habit is almost considered an addiction, even substance abuse. Obesity rates have increased significantly and the cause is believed to be linked with the increase in television viewing. This is not just a problem because people are overweight, but people are seeing these images on TV that show what the correct image is for someone to have. Not only is it in part a cause, but television is a constant reminder of their weight while people are watching it. In some cases this leads to eating disorders that create the opposite effect, such as anorexia nervosa and bulemia nervosa. In one study, the female participants had the tendency to internalize the ideal body images seen on television and as a result, were more likely to to develop one of these eating disorders [3].
TV has also been a topic of discussion in regards to viewing violence and its effects on children. One study looks to reaffirm the idea that exposure to violence on TV desensitizes people to such violent acts. The skin conductance level was measured after the participants watched violent acts repeatedly. It was found that the more a person viewed violent acts, the less likely that person is going to be stimulated by a violent act [4].
According to Albert Bandura and The Social Learning Theory, people learn through observation. That is what we do with television, we observe what is going on on the screen. We are influenced by television. In fact, approximately 66 percent of kids ranging from 10 to 16 years of age, say their friends are heavily influenced by what they see on TV [5]. Television exposes us to numerous issues in addition to violence, sex, sexual orientation, gender roles, hegemonic masculinity, and more.
