TV Affects Us More than We Know

Television has changed immensely over the last 50 years. Initially televisions had limited color and limited channels and now they have 3D channels, HD channels, and unlimited potential. These changes have had positive effects on society which were accurately predicted by Marshall McLuhan in his novel Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. With television we are able to learn about current events more quickly and more in depth and with many new shows we feel connected to the television.

McLuhan guessed correctly that we would become more connected to our televisions as time went on and he expressed this on page 31. He stated that television helped in "transforming fragmented and specialist extensions into a seamless web of experience". I would say McLuhan was dead on in this prediction because the shows on television nowadays have become part of our lives. Examples of this is turning on the television at eight pm every Tuesday to watch the new episode of Modern Family. Aliye says that television has disconnected us but I disagree because many families plan their day around a specific show and make sure that all their chores are done before it comes on. In a sense, television shows hook us and control our lives until the season is over. Anderson Proctor talks about how televisions are seen in every house and has a funny meme to go along with it.

McLuhan talks about how we can become connected to television but later in the writing he talks about how television can also connect us to other viewers. Marshall states that "the Kennedy funeral, in short, manifested the power of TV to involve an entire population in a ritual process" pg 34. While he couldn't predict future national disasters he did say that they would connect the citizens because they would all have their eyes glued to the television. I agree with this point because large news stories give Americans a sense of patriotism because everyone supports those who are injured in the case of a disaster and many people come together to help their communities. One more recent example is hurricane Katrina (video may play). Mostly everyone knows the story and how people all across the country donated money to help those affected by the hurricane. This is a great example of how television has change over the years. Darine's blog post helps explain why people are able to connect more easily through new stories and that's because almost every household owns a television and everyone is getting the same news.

I agree with McLuhan's arguments that television would change over the years and become a part of us and connect to our daily lives as well as connect us to other viewers. First it would become part of us because we would, over time, make time in our days to sit down and watch television. Television has also transformed into a common median between citizens during large news stories because interesting news stories are all people talk about.