Televisions have become the most popular form of entertainment globally, with the majority of households owning one and switching it on at least once a day, sometimes for many hours at a time. It may be hugely entertaining with the potential to be beneficial, but is this phenomenon affecting us negatively too?
Losses
The main concern when it comes to the negative effects of television, is the fact that spending so much time watchingthem is taking us away from activities which could be contributing towards our development. Firstly, watching TV requires sitting in one place for hours at a time in order to concentrate, which in turn is decreasing the amount of time we spend exercising. We are also missing out on important social opportunities which can impact our wellbeing significantly. It is well known that human connection is crucial to our happiness and spending all of your time in front of a television can mean that you miss out on this, as well ason developing the skills which enable you to socialise.
Furthermore, it is proven that spending a lot of time in front of an electronic screen can have a detrimental effect on your eyes. However, by limiting the amount of time you spend watching TV you can avoid all of these effects, and by investing in Home Automation you can easily keep track of how much time you spend on certain devices.
Influences
Television shows are designed to entertain us, so they show an altered version of reality which often includes far more exciting scenes than you would usually be exposed to in day to day life. This can lead to a desensitised perception of danger, for example violence can be normalised, leading you to be more likely to partake in violent action yourself. It can also desensitise us to the risks involved in things like drinking alcohol and taking drugs. Furthermore, watching television can shorten our attention span, as it gets us used to instant gratification. Our own abilities to process information and react correctly in social situations can, as a result, also become skewed. However, it is easy to avoid these effects by sticking to certain types of shows.
What You Watch
It is not just the television itself that can cause problems, but also what you watch and how often you watch it. Television has been around for some time now and producers have created a huge range of different styles of programme, from reality shows, to educational shows and talent shows. It is important to make sure that you do not watch too many shows which don’t contribute towards your development, for example soaps which dramatize stories beyond normal relatability. Whereas watching the right kind of programmecan teach you a lot, such as documentaries on climate change.
Watching television is a one-dimensional activity which can take up valuable time which could be better spent on other activities which help our brains to develop, for example socialising, as well as things which are good for our physical health such as exercising. Watching television can also make us adopt unhealthy attitudes towards the world around us, for example we can become desensitized to danger as a result of being exposed to accentuated levels of violence on such a regular basis. Our attention spans are also shortened, and it can even have a detrimental effect on our eyes. However, as long as you limit the time you spend watching television, and choose the right kind of programmes, television can be very beneficial. For more health tips, take a look at foreverfearlessmag.com
