Television

Television has never portrayed normal life, mostly because it is impossible to determine an “average” of an ever fluctuating family structure. Watching television has never boosted anyone’s position on the social ladder, except maybe, in trivia. Ehrenreich is right to call the world inside the black box “eerie and unnatural”; It was never intended to be anything else. 

Ever since it was first invented television has been used as an escape from your normal everyday work life. It has been used to entertain and to bring family and friends together to enjoy a movie night. In my household we annually watch movies and television shows together. This is our family night. Whereas before the television was invented families would gather around and listen to each other take turns reading, now everyone stares zommbily at the screen and have no communication or connection except for “pass the popcorn” or “give me back the blanket”.

While this removal of communication is concerning, it does not have to be detrimental to the family structure. Television, in moderation, is not bad for you. However, spending the whole day re-watching the first season of Glee or Gossip Girl  is not okay. This is mainly due to the removal from nature in our everyday lives. As we are sucked into the living room to watch T.V we see less and less of nature. This has become so bad for humans that doctors have started advising people to visit an Eco therapist whom takes their patients outdoors as a form of treatment.

So why do we keep on watching? The answer is simply, we continue to watch television to unwind, to forget about the stress of our jobs, our lives, our world. This does not mean that we have an all day pass to veg out on the couch. We still should be getting up and playing outside with our friends. It is unrealistic to ask everyone to cut television completely out of our lives, but it should simply be asked to reduce the consumption time.