Television: It Has More of an Affect Than We Think

In an article titled, "Can Watching TV Change Your Personality?! :Something to Think About," the author, Renee, talks about the many ways watching television can influence your life and the lives of others.

So often people don't realize just how much television can alter your thinking. Say you are an avid watcher of all CSI shows and rarely miss an episode. The more you watch the show and learn the techniques, you find yourself thinking about dusting for fingerprints in a public place just to see who has been there before you.

There may also be instances where you may find an unknown liquid you would like to swab and analyze because you can't help but to wonder what it might be. I know not all CSI watchers take it to that extreme, but I am a crime scene investigation fan and have often wondered what it would be like to perform some of those same duties as on the television show. Do I actually try some of those things? No. I have my curiosities, as does anyone else, but it would be nearly impossible for a civilian to collect samples and then analyze it. It would cost me thousands of dollars for the equipment and eat up the time I have set aside for family and for running my own business.

Before CSI came along, I knew very little about fingerprint lifting, DNA testing and the whole process that went with finding out who a person is by either of these two means. I had no clue about how to look for blood or semen, or trace elements from a suspect. Yes, before CSI I had more of a simple mind when watching cop shows and only cared that the criminals were brought to justice. My thoughts never went deeper into how the cops actually got the evidence they needed for a warrant and/or for an arrest.

So to recap, my fascination of the three CSI shows every week has deepened my thought process as to what is involved in the justice system and how it works.

That is only one example of how television can change you. Sometimes the change is good, but sometimes it may be for the worse.

A bad example would be the show Desperate Housewives. It may be a good show for adults who know adultery and having other kinds of affairs is bad. But for those already living the life style it rather encourages them to keep on the same path.
For teenage girls who may have self-esteem issues, this show may influence them into thinking they have to be pretty to win affection, even the sporadic affection from more than one man as the show often portrays.

These girls may very well be pretty, but if they don't think they are, Desperate Housewives may lead them to believe they will never be as pretty as the TV stars. If they continue to watch the show they may feel even worse about themselves.
Then there is the case scenario of the pretty, confident girls. These girls may watch the show and take away from it a negative aspect. They may think it silly to be loyal to one man in order to receive affection when they can have many "boyfriends". This is the opposite of what they should be thinking. What are they going to teach their children when they end up pregnant at a very young age?

Young girls are highly impressionable and unless they are taught the right morals and their self-esteem positively fed and their dreams encouraged, Desperate Housewives could do more harm than good.

It's important to use discretion when allowing children and young adults in watching both shows and movies as well as listening to music or playing video games. If your TV is equipped with a V-Chip, you should use it. The V-Chip is a remarkable device that gives you the power to control what "messages" are fed into your child's brain from the television.
If you have kids of your own, or are watching someone else's, you can do your part in making sure they grow up in a positive way by keeping track of what they are watching, playing or listening to.

Children and young adults are not the only ones affected by television shows. Adults are too. You may not think so and are denying it out right, but you may be affected and not realize it yet. There will be a time when you do something out of the ordinary and wonder where it is coming from. Think about it and see if a TV show is to blame.

If you are still skeptical and would like scientific evidence of this claim then I think you should read Does TV Rot Your Brains? New Evidence from the Coleman Study, by Matthew Gentzkow and Jesse M. Shaprio. It's a fifty-one page PDF file but it's well worth the read with a load of information on how television affects people of all different age groups.