Nowadays, television has a great influence in our lives. Almost everyone has a television set at home, and people regard watching television as a pastime or for educational purposes. Television has always been used as a medium to educate, entertain and instruct, and is a necessity in most households; no longer a luxury.
In recent years, more and more teenagers are becoming increasingly violent, and a possible cause is the influence of watching television shows which are violent and gory. This leads to fights or aggressive attitudes among teenagers, which are not what parents expect of them. Secondly, many parents allow their children to watch cartoons on television from young, and watching of television may have become an addiction for some of these children. These children may grow up to spend hours watching television programmes which are not educational, and this results in a loss of precious time to do other more meaningful things.
In addition, television can stop us from thinking indebt about certain news topics. When we have news channels providing us with a constant stream of information, insights and observations, we can easily find a source of opinions that stops us from critically thinking. Another negative influence of television is that television can limit us in what we are interested in finding out. If we are over-reliant on sources broadcasted on television in order to find out information, we might even believe un-reliable sources which we view.
However, one cannot agree that television influences our lives more than anything else. As time passes, technology advancements go with the time and improve as well. In the previous years, many new gadgets ranging from smartphones to computers and many other electronic devices have been invented. With the internet, the biggest media platform, being able to be accessed with many of these devices, many people have started to be addicted the same way they are to television. Today, access to the internet and the availability of a wide range of CD-ROMs do have a role to play in the moulding of youth culture in any country. A study by a communications regulator Ofcom shows that 16-24 year-olds value their mobile phones and the internet more than television, which represents that television is less influential than the internet and devices towards youths.
Ultimately, the importance of television is great, as it allows us to view news and lets us enjoy shows as a pastime, but most shows on television are quite influential, and some result in youths picking up bad habits. However, television is still not as influential as other platforms of media, and it is still fine for us to watch television so long as we understand that there are some bad habits that we should not pick up.
Links to my comments on classmates' essays:
Ming Fwu
Liak Ghee
Wei Ren
Wei Kiat
Wen Hao
Links to my comments on classmates' essays:
Ming Fwu
Liak Ghee
Wei Ren
Wei Kiat
Wen Hao
I think that all your points about the Television being over influential is not bad. Realistic and not too far-fetched. You are able to link some of the different problems we face today in our society, which is also good. For example, you linked the problem of modern day teenagers becoming more and more violent to violent television shows.
ReplyDeleteYou can improve on your counter argument paragraph. Although the television is less influential THAN computers and the other forms of media, it does not mean that the television ITSELF becomes less influential.
I believe you could have a more firm thesis statement and actually stating your view of the issue in it. Also, in your counter-argument paragraph, I believe you have gone off point a little, talking more about technology instead of television, which is the main subject of the topic. However, I find that your two other body paragraphs are rather good in terms of content while making the examples used rather appropriate as well as non-repetitive. Your conclusion has also rounded up the issue fairly well.
ReplyDeleteI think that you could have done a better job on paragraphing. Your first point states that television programmes are violent. However, you end the paragraph saying how teenagers might become addicted. Perhaps you could split the paragraph into two?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I agree with Liak Ghee. How the television being less influential than the computer make it less influential ITSELF? As a counter-argument, you should state how is IT not too influential, not other things being more influential.
Some work needs to be done on grammar and choice of words too :) Otherwise I think it's quite a good essay.
Thank you for your motivational comments! I will work harder! :D
ReplyDelete