Why does the question of 'why is the world obsessed with TV' always come up, year after year, as if there is someone to blame for the ever-changing box still being around like the common cold?
The obvious answer is that the world is not. Literacy worldwide has been rising since the end of the Cold War in most countries. The complicated answer is that it is television that is obsessed with the world.
To anyone who lives in the world, you know that the world is different in different places. In South Korea and Japan, television is a personal thing, as is the mobile phone used to watch the show; while a private action, the device gives the viewer the feeling of being connected to the characters and other fans. In China, North Korea, and Uganda, television can be mandatory and online piracy can be the only way to know about the rest of the world.
Television has advanced medicine, domestic life, philosophy, space travel, communication, and more. It has given us the the Beatles, Moon Landing, Watergate, the Fall of the Berlin Wall, 9/11, and more moments in our life that will remain with use forever.
Television has expanded from a few channels to hundreds of them, each with a dozen options, nearly all of them online. While television has been the best technology to adapt to online services, innovations that have lasted have been those to the benefit to many, not a a single viewer. Most programming (other than porn) has revolved around that. Today, communal television watching is increasing due t changing family dynamics; mainly that both parents work. With both at work, both their time is more valuable to their children and thus they all prefer to relax and watch television as a group. It is available, cheap, easy, and all enjoy it and learn to share from it.
So why the hate? Misinformation. While the US is one of the leaders in television viewing and teens and tweens are not only the single largest audience and cash opportunity for programs, but are consuming twice as much electronic media as their parents' generation, including television, they are also excelling beyond both their parents' and grandparents' generations. Teens have record low pregnancies, teen use of all drugs (save for marijuana), has been on the decline for years, not only is the us literacy rate at 99%, but more teens are finishing high school and graduating from college, and most work.
Added to the rise in both teen advertising, programming, and viewership is the rise of the reality show. The advent of the television available to most families was detrimental to movies, as television may not have movies all the time, but was easier to access. As choices in channels increased and more programming companies provided shows when the viewer, not the network wanted, movies struggled and studios gouged more from theaters (this is the reason concessions are so expensive these days) and banked more on blockbusters that would attract not thousands over weeks, but millions the first day. Another form of media also struggled. With more choice, people continue to move away from reality programming. To combat this, reality programming branched out to match the increase in choices of other genres. The increase in 'trash' is seen, but not the increase in other shows, including educational ones.
There is a way to fix the mindlessness of television, but claiming those who watch it are obsessed, or, as others congregate to the idea, lazy or stupid. Most scientists and authors watch television. Creating a show requires many artists. If one wishes to combat stupidity, television must be seen as just that: art. It must be judged as such, analyzed, and questioned. It already is. Fans will debate plot, writers, deeper meaning, symbols, and even how it was created and how well that creation was done.
Like all art, it is improved by understanding and respect for the medium, not by hate.
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