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Consumed by TV
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SOUND OFF! Young student Samatha K.V. is upset how we have turned blatant consumerists, thanks to television
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Invented by John Logie Baird in the year 1926, nobody thought that this small box would develop the capacity to overwhelm everyone, everyday. Radio which was popular then was also quickly taken over.
Television has managed to steal into everyone’s living rooms. In some houses it has crept into bedrooms too. It draws everyone’s attention, gobbles up time and also creeps into their brains, lays the egg of consumerism, allowing it to hatch and multiply.
Television is a highly loaded and manipulative device. Most people are unaware that the television is manipulating and shaping society according to the wishes of the advertisers or industries. The primary goal of television is to sell.
Anyone who switches on a television set is bound to become a consumer. We have only two options with us: to be a consumer by watching television and to keep switching or swapping channels. Or simply switch off television. Though television is rarely forced on us, the irony is it always happens spontaneously and voluntarily.
To shield children from television is quite an impossible and a foolish task. A recent survey shows that children see one hour of advertisements for every five hours of programmes. The whole concept of consumerism gets instilled right from childhood. This concept has trickled down to classrooms, books, bags and pencil boxes too, with Tom & Jerry and Bugs Bunny characters ruling everyday products.
The history of the development of television is intimately connected with the history of development of capitalism. Television has a way of invading minds and tries to convert everything into consumerism.
Though radio did not die completely from the strong blow given by television it moved backstage. Today, radio is coming back, well equipped in advance to knock down television. People have been favouring radio, and is a warning signal for television. Advertising, it is said, gives us the right to choose, but in reality it takes away our ability to choose.
Advertising is invasive and thatviewers hardly realise how they are being manipulated. We are well on the he road to being a planet addicted to television.
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