The three main purposes of mass media are to provide information, entertainment, and advertisement. The media not only provides information, but it decides which information is important. What we see on television and the internet or what we hear on the radio is all chosen by the media. My main argument is how the media influences our world today through the television.
Television is one of the biggest influences in today’s world. In 1955, television was available to 66 percent of the Canadian population, and, in 1990, it was proved that 99.5 percent of homes, in the United States, have television sets. North Americans today spend a large amount of their lives sitting in front of a television screen.
Television is the system of producing onscreen images of distant objects and events by electromagnetic radiation. Television is one of our most important means of communication and it is the most widely used mass media form in the world. It brings moving pictures and sounds from around the world into millions of people’s homes. The total amount of time that TV occupies in people’s lives has it’s affects on society as well as society has on it. Many scientists contributed to the development of television, so no one person can be called its creator. Television became possible in the 1800’s, when people learned how to send communication signals through the air. By the early 1900’s, it was possible for operators to transmit and receive information.
Television does a lot to promote interest in political issues by publicizing candidate’s campaigns. Before television, candidates for president, Prime Minister or other high office tried to make as many personal appearances and speeches as possible. Today candidates reach more viewers through a single television appearance than through all of the personal appearances they do. Although society has been highly affected by the introduction of television, TV has itself been affected by society. What we see on our television screens today is a result of how audiences have reacted to television in the past.
The television transmits images to our homes, and as you might have heard – one picture is worth a thousand words. On one hand, television can serve as an educational tool. On the other hand, it can have negative affects on children and even adults. Advertising is probably one of the most influential items in media. Every year the average American sees more than 38,000 TV commercials. Humans learn by imitation, it is the most fundamental way of gaining knowledge. Babies learn to speak, walk, eat and everything else by imitating parents and others. This continues into adulthood. It is against all logic to say that we don’t imitate to a certain degree, the images we see on television.
Ruky Abdulai
