The Culture around Television Viewing

This essay analyzes the transformation in the culture of television viewing, from a family activity to an individualized and isolated experience. It explores the changes in television content, viewing habits, and the impact on individuals and society. The essay also discusses the positive and negative effects of these changes.

The Culture around Television Viewing 0
Title: The Culture around Television Viewing
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The Culture around Television Viewing 1
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
The Culture around Television Viewing....................................................................................2
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................6

The Culture around Television Viewing 2
Introduction
Television has transformed over the years, due to the massive expansion and
invention that has taken place in technology. It is due to this factor that the culture of
complete television viewing has also transformed massively. It is the best medium of
infotainment, which from being a medium for people to get together and spend some quality
time, has now changed to become a medium of isolation. For better mental and social
development, television viewing plays a crucial role. It is this process of mental development,
which has accelerated due to the changing culture of television viewing. It is not just the
children, who are changing with the different modification in the television viewing, but the
adults and the senior citizens are also undergoing several positive and negative changes. In
this essay, the culture around television viewing has been analyzed and the different personal
and professional factors which have also changed along with it.
The Culture around Television Viewing
The culture of television viewing has changed completely, from the place, we watch
to the way we watch it, along with the changes in our choice of television content and the
different ways we utilize that content. The television viewing is not limited to just a few
shows or channels, even the medium has changed, which is responsible for transforming the
television viewing massively (An and Lee 2014).
Television was a medium for families to get together in the living room, to watch
family oriented shows, which mainly belonged to the comic genre. It was a leisure activity
for the family, which every member used to look forward too. However, with the
advancement in technology and the invention of different gadgets and applications,
everything has transformed. Now with the help of laptops, mobile phones, and tablets, people
have their own personalized television, which is portable and can fit in a pocket (De Craemer

The Culture around Television Viewing 3
et al. 2018). Due to this invention, now people have the facility to watch television anywhere
and at any time. Furthermore, due to this, family leisure activity is now a time-pass activity
for people. Therefore, the transformation in the culture of television viewing from the family
living room to any place of their choice has killed the only opportunity for many families to
get together, which was followed in the majority of families like a tradition.
The ways of watching the television have also transformed, due to the advancement in
technology. With each passing decade, there has been a new addition in the market with a
new gadget. It is due to these gadgets that have helped in watching televisions on small,
medium, and large screens. Also, this has helped in increasing the range of the television
field, with the increase in the number of shows. Due to this expansion, the majority of the
current population is addicted to web series that are broadcasted on the mediums like Netflix,
Amazon Prime, and many others (Helajärvi et al. 2014). It is due to the availability of these
different mediums that have replaced the family television viewing, which was earlier
dominated by just a few shows. Therefore, the biggest change in watching television has been
due to the increase in the number of shows, along with increment in the channels.
Earlier television viewing was a family time, where the complete family enjoys
leisure time with some crisps and soft drinks. On the weekends, this was a traditional and
regular ritual. Also, every family uses to have only one television. Now, with the prices of
electronics decreasing, it has become easy for the average families to buy multiple television
(Yoo, Jo and Jung 2014). With this, be it, children or adults, now all like watching television
alone. In addition, due to the facility of watching different new series on gadgets, a majority
of people have stopped watching television, as better television content is available on the
different web series channels. Therefore, the biggest change in the culture of television
viewing is people now watch television or similar content in an isolated environment (Keadle
et al. 2015).

The Culture around Television Viewing 4
The culture of television viewing has also transformed in relation to the content,
which is being broadcasted. Initially, the only genre, which prevailed and entertained the
audience for years, was comedy and romance. With the passing time, other genres were
introduced in the television like action, thriller, Sci-fi, horror, and many more (Murray and
Tobias 2010). With this, the current focus is on entertaining the audience with different
genres and also, offering them with a social message. So, the current television content is
helpful in informing and educating people in different ways, along with offering immense
entertainment. Though the current television content that is being broadcasted is delivering
different content material, it is influencing people both positively and negatively. Due to a
number of crime and thriller shows, people are copying ideas and committing crimes. Also, it
has become paramount for parents to monitor their children’s television viewing (Rainey
2015).
In today’s culture of television viewing, the unique aspect is that all the television
content of today is realistic and focuses on depicting real stories, which the viewers can easily
relate too. This unique aspect has helped in increasing the curiosity of people in the television
show and content. In addition to this, the other unique aspect of the current television viewing
is that due to the increase in the number of shows, there is a something, which will please
every viewer from the kids to the adults. Due to an increase in the number of channels, there
are numerous shows with amazing content (Steiner and Xu 2018).
Conclusion
Therefore, the culture of television viewing has completely transformed from the
change in place to the way of watching television like with family to watching alone, and the
increase in the impact of the television content on the viewer. Television viewing has
completely transformed. Also, the biggest change has been brought by the increase in the

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number of television channels, which has increased the number of shows that are available
for the viewers. The other change in the culture of television view has happened due to the
increase in the different web series channels like Amazon Prime, Netflix, and many more.
This change in the culture of television viewing has had both positive and negative impact.

The Culture around Television Viewing 6
References
An, Se-Kyung, and Bum-Jun Lee. 2014. "Effects Of Viewing Motivations On Viewing
Preferences And Viewing Intentions Of Television Food Programs". Journal Of The
Korean Society Of Food Culture 29 (3): 259-269.
De Craemer, Marieke, Maïté Verloigne, Ariane Ghekiere, Anne Loyen, Patricia Dargent-
Molina, Johannes Brug, and Nanna Lien et al. 2018. "Changes In Children’S Television
And Computer Time According To Parental Education, Parental Income And Ethnicity:
A 6-Year Longitudinal EYHS Study". PLOS ONE 13 (9): e0203592.
Helajärvi, Harri, Tom Rosenström, Katja Pahkala, Mika Kähönen, Terho Lehtimäki, Olli J.
Heinonen, Mervi Oikonen, Tuija Tammelin, Jorma S. A. Viikari, and Olli T. Raitakari.
2014. "Exploring Causality Between TV Viewing And Weight Change In Young And
Middle-Aged Adults. The Cardiovascular Risk In Young Finns Study". Plos ONE 9 (7):
e101860.
Keadle, Sarah Kozey, Hannah Arem, Steven C. Moore, Joshua N. Sampson, and Charles E.
Matthews. 2015. "Impact Of Changes In Television Viewing Time And Physical
Activity On Longevity: A Prospective Cohort Study". International Journal Of
Behavioral Nutrition And Physical Activity 12 (1): 12-20.
Murray, Noel, and Scott Tobias. 2010. "How Has The Culture Of TV (And TV-Watching)
Changed?". Tv.Avclub.Com. https://tv.avclub.com/how-has-the-culture-of-tv-and-tv-
watching-changed-1798220508.

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Rainey, Sarah. 2015. "How Binge-Watching Has Changed TV Forever". Telegraph.Co.Uk.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/11361212/How-binge-watching-has-
changed-TV-forever.html.
Steiner, Emil, and Kun Xu. 2018. "Binge-Watching Motivates Change". Convergence: The
International Journal Of Research Into New Media Technologies 1 (1): 135.
Yoo, Jae-Woong, Samsup Jo, and Jaemin Jung. 2014. "The Effects Of Television Viewing,
Cultural Proximity, And Ethnocentrism On Country Image". Social Behavior And
Personality: An International Journal 42 (1): 89-96.