Assignment no- 15 Mass Media -EFFECTS OF TELEVISION ON SOCIETY

• Prepared by:  KAVITABA P. GOHIL
• Roll No: 19
• Paper – 15: Mass Media
• M.A (English)   :  Sem -4
• Enrollment No: 2069108420180018
• Batch: 2017-19
• Email: kavitabaprahaladsinhjigohil@gmail.com
• Submitted to: Smt. S. B. Gardi, Department of English, MKBU. 
• Topic: EFFECTS OF TELEVISION ON SOCIETY
• Total words: 1340.
• Plagiarism in percentage:____%

Television broadcast has broad effects on society all around the world. The strong verbal and nonverbal combination and the facility to highlight different subject matters created one of the most important impressions in mass media. There are so many angles to see as to what extent TV has brought about changes in the daily life of people and the nations as well.

Here we will see some of the key changes affected by TV transmissions in general.

Changes in timings

Most people have turned their daily timings in accordance with their popular programs. Students tend to finish their homework before their favorite show. Homemakers would make their cooking schedule as not to miss the soap tonight. Men would get ready for relaxing by watching programs of their interest.

Much noticeable change is in bed-timings. Early to bed... dictum seems to have lost its meaning and watching TV till late night has become a norm at most households until children get a gaze from parents they tend to fight sleep only to watch a play or a show and discuss it next day with classmates.

Household entity and change in habits

The TV has become one essential household entity. You remove the TV from the house and everybody starts feeling as something is missing. It is this strong feeling of TV presence that is helping change habits pertaining to talking style, eating timings, and seeing relatives, etc.

 Politics and TV

Aware of the strength of TV, many politicians and political parties are more interested in buying time on television and find themselves in a far easier position to address masses in their TV lounges instead of taking pain all the time of going out, arranging public meetings and braving hardships. The TV seems to have dramatically changed the political environment and now people can talk to their leaders who frequently appear on different TV talk shows.

Cultural changes and influences

Perhaps most affected of all areas due to watching TV is the cultural changes that have come about over the years. TV dramas and discussion programs have largely influenced the thought process of many on normal living to acculturation by seeing the blaze of exotic lifestyle. That is one reason that intellectuals always campaign to show as much of local culture on TV broadcast as possible so that cultural identity of a particular region, tribe, nation or clan be kept in its traditional way.

There have been long debates on the influence of other cultures, especially the ones from the west, on the living style of other societies through TV programs. Smelling a deliberate attempt to seduce the youth of conservative societies to the sparkling and bold images of the west, there rages a strong debate under the title of cultural imperialism. Of late, these debates are paying off as there is an element of awareness to resist such manipulations and to keep one’s culture well defended against such invasions. Nonetheless, the conflict of influencing cultures through TV showings during the news, entertainment, and sports are going strong.

Case Study

The nation's established mass media—radio, films, and newspapers—reacted differently to
television's sudden presence in the American home. Radio felt the effects first, as audiences for radio programs, particularly in the evening, dropped sharply in the first half of the 1950s. Radio's relative portability allowed some recovery, especially with the development of the transistor. Then, too, in The 1950s, most Americans only owned one television. Those unhappy with what another family member insisted on watching could listen to a radio elsewhere in the house. 

Moreover, the radio could be a diversion for those doing the dishes or cleaning a room. At the same time, radio listening while driving became much more common as more automobiles were equipped with radios, and the percentage of Americans who owned cars increased. In addition, some radio stations broke with an older industry tradition by targeting a demographic subgroup of listeners, specifically, adolescents.

Stations hired disc jockeys who continuously played rock and roll music. Television stations and networks could only offer a few programs tailored to teens. Advertisers prized their parents more. Radio, in that regard, anticipated the direction of television's competitors after the 1960s. Radio stations continued to narrow their formats by age, race, and politics.

Television presented an enormous challenge to the film industry. Theater attendance dropped sharply in the late 1940s and early 1950s. However, box office receipts were declining even before television arrived in many communities. With marginal theaters closing, the studios responded by reducing the number of movies produced per year. To compete with TV, more films had elaborate special effects and were produced in color. (Not until 1972 did most homes have color televisions.) The collapse of film censorship in the mid-1960s gave Hollywood another edge: violence and sexual situations could be portrayed with unprecedented explicitness that TV producers could only envy.

Although most large studios at first resisted cooperating with the television networks, by the mid-1950s virtually every movie company was involved in some TV production. With some exceptions, most of Hollywood's initial video work resembled the old "B" movie, the cheaper theatrical release of the 1930s and 1940s produced as the second feature for a twin billing or for the smaller theaters, most of which had ceased operations in the late 1950s. In the late 1960s, motion picture firms began producing TV movies, that is, two-hour films specifically for television. At first, they were fairly cheaply mounted and forgettable.

But a few had an enormous impact. ABC's Roots, telecast in 1977, chronicled the history of an African-American family and prompted a new appreciation for family history. Although the TV films remained popular through the 1980s, higher costs caused the networks to lose their enthusiasm for the genre, which all but disappeared from the small screen in the 1990s.

Seeing is believing

The authenticity of news and other informative material has never been more acceptable to people through other means of communication than the one available on TV. People already informed about an event still like to see the news along with footage on TV. For instance, the winning run scored by your favorite team in an exciting match is something people would like to see again although they know the outcome of the match. So is about visuals on accidents, and unusual events like the hanging of Iraqi leader Saddam Husain, etc.

Fashion

Working on the psyche of youth, especially young ladies, TV plays and shows have concentrated over the years in introducing new and trendy dresses, particularly in the advertisements which are an integral part of TV transmissions all across the world. The new hairstyles, dresses, makeup, and even body gestures very quickly gain currency and after any popular show or a drama serial, its fashion effects are easily seen on the people.  (www.zainbooks.com)

Works Cited

www.zainbooks.com. n.d. Website. 4 April 2019. <http://www.zainbooks.com/books/mass-communication/introduction-to-mass-communication_34_effects-of-television-on-society.html>.