The Impact of Culture on Television Viewing: An Essay

This essay delves into the multifaceted culture surrounding television viewing, tracing its evolution from the early days of limited programming to the current era of streaming services and diverse content. It examines the profound impact of technological advancements, such as the internet, smartphones, and smart TVs, on how people consume television, leading to a shift from traditional channels to online platforms. The essay highlights the influence of streaming on television ratings and audience behavior, emphasizing the ease of access and convenience offered by these platforms. Furthermore, it explores how television shapes cultural experiences, imparts values, and influences societal perceptions. The analysis also touches upon the changing landscape of the television industry, including the rise of reality TV, the role of advertisers, and the impact of government regulations. The essay concludes by emphasizing the symbiotic relationship between television and culture, illustrating how television reflects and shapes societal values and norms through its programming and coverage.

Running head: THE CULTURE AROUND TELEVISION VIEWING

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The Culture around Television Viewing
Name of the Student:
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Television in modern days has become one of the most debatable issues as many of
the people questions about its impact on the attitudes and the overall psychological
development on the youth today. The children now-a-days discovers the world of television
at their very young age. It is a known fact that television is one of the most effective
education tools. Along with several programs showcasing the scientific theories, wildlife etc,
television helps the children to broader their mind and to have a better understanding
regarding the world. Television has always been considered as one of the most important
inventions of science and today it has invaded almost all the homes all around the world.
However, with the change in technology, many of the devices have evolved and the
one among them is television. In earlier days, the actions of television viewing were very
limited (Vandewater et al. 2015). Every TC stations used to take too much of time for
programming. By the 1960s many of the houses had access to TV but were available with
only three networks that transmitted musical-variety programs, comedies and westerns. At
present, the whole world has access to television as well as internet and that too with a wide
array of channels to view. The studies have shown that people today are watching the live
shows on television than ever before (Sorensen 2016). Availed with a large number channels
and shows to view, watching television has become one of the most frequent activities that
humans do to pass their time today. With the presence of numerous gadgets and technologies
such as computers, smart phones and laptops, television still is one of the major selling
products in today’s world (Turow 2016). It is very uncommon and rare to see a house today
where there is no television. It has acquired an important place in the society. Increasing the
reach of television has always been one of the top priorities for the government that has
invested a lot amount of sum in order to develop the satellite technology (Klomp 2016).
The more humanity has progressed through time, the more obvious changes it has
seen around the world. Technologies has affected greatly the way we watch television as

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there exists numerous ways of watching or seeing programs, for example, today there are
smart phones, websites and other streaming devices available for the people to view any of
their favorite shows at any time and that too at any place of their choice. This has brought a
considerable amount of change in the number of people who watch television as the
emergence of new technologies has decreased the quantity of television viewers (Labrecque
2014). People today see everything on internet. However, there is also the presence of smart
televisions that now enables viewing videos in the YouTube and similar other content and
that too without connecting it to any other devices like computers. With the same, other
gadgets such as game consoles, Ray players etc are also present today for the convenience of
the people as they can be connected directly with the television. Moreover, streaming is one
of those things that are affecting the way we watch television in modern days. Streaming is
the technique that works as transferring the data that can be organized as a continuous and
steady stream (Kokkonis et al. 2016). After its invention, the television ratings have been
changed to a great extent. It has gained much importance in the world today because of the
rise in internet as the users today can watch live TV and that too without downloading them.
The regular TV ratings have fall down because most of the people now-a-days watch TV
online (Bailey 2015). At present, people do not have o go to the rental stores in order to
subscribe to satellite or cables or to buy DVDs as they can find each and everything online.
Another factor that is influencing the upswing of the live streaming is the location for
example, when people living in abroad wants to watch any of their favorite American or
African or Indian channels, they tend to search them online as they do not have to wait long
(Booth and Clements 2018). However, if such kind of watching shows keeps on rising, the
day is not too far when the traditional channels and the television will be forgotten by the
people as the society is always eager to receive new technologies and devices that make
everything easier for them. Hence, the reason why technology is changing the way we view

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television is the presence of other systems which makes the content more easy to access for
the people.
Furthermore, with the emergence of more ways of watching television, human now
have access to a large array of both good and bad or inappropriate content. In such a crowded
and bulky television environment, providing the young children with guided television
watching experience and to teach them the skills to critically think, they need to be engaged
and active viewers. Television helps them to develop these skills. Television has the ability to
create strong touchstones and therefore enables the children to share the cultural experiences
with one another. It teaches the young generation important life lessons and values. It
introduces the kids with the classic Hollywood films and international movies which they
might not able to see otherwise. Along with this, the cultural programming could also open
up the world of art and music for the kids and young people so that they could be aware of
them.
In olden days, most of the television entertainment programs used to ignore the latest
events and political issues. Alternatively, the three primary networks- the NBC, ABC and
CBS had developed the prime-time shows, which would call to the general family audience
(Woodford, Goldsmith and Bruns 2015). With the same, when TV was in its infancy, the
producers used to model the new medium on the radios. The popular radio shows like the
police drama Dragnet and the western cowboy series of Gunsmoke were embraced and
adapted for the television and the news television shows were sponsored by the above there
major networks but in modern days, the television industry has become far more complex.
Today, shows are sponsored by numerous advertisers and the programming is operated and
controlled by the major media conglomerates (Katz, 2016). There are multiple sponsors today
and multiple sponsors simply mean that no one advertiser controls the whole program. With

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the same, ABC, CBS and NBC are no longer dominating the airwaves but instead they are
sharing their viewers with multiple cable channels (Schiffman 2017).
Various other factors account for such trends within the television industry, counting
the government regulations, technological developments and the creation and development of
new networks. Along with that, the realty TV shows broadcasted through television are now
creating stars in modern days has been emerged where the participants discusses everything
including their most personal as well as taboo issues. Thus, it can be concluded that television
now-a-days has held up a mirror to the society. The symbiotic nature of the television and the
culture is symbolized in each and every broadcast, right from the family sitcoms to vital and
serious news reports. The televised news coverage has had different cultural effects right
from the 1950s. Supplying the viewers with the footage of the highly intense human
experiences, the televised news has been successfully reached the people in a way that
newspapers and radio cannot.

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