Jessica Melendez
11/19/2007
AP English
Addictive and robotic behavior, relationship troubles, numbness to feelings. These are all side effects that come from an addict. This addiction may not be to drugs, but instead to something that is thought to be an innocent form of entertainment used to bring the family together. This addiction is to the television. In “Television: The Plug-In Drug” Mary Winn writes, “…the television experience is instrumental in preventing viewers from recognizing its dulling effects, much as a mind-altering drug might do.” On the same level, Pete Hamill says, “In short, television works on the same imaginative and intellectual level as psychoactive drugs…” Both statements from Winn and Hamill are proven true through their comparisons of the effects of TV viewing and drugs.
In Mary Winn’s piece she takes note of all the results caused by the television and realized that they are synonymous with those that come from using drugs. Just like drugs, the time spent watching programs enters into an already existing pattern of life like family, school, sports, etc. Once the click of the remote turns the television on participation in any outside activities diminishes. Unlike what earlier studies have shown, know a day the TV set does not resolve to bring the family together. Instead most families wind up in separate rooms watching the program of their choice. Not only does the television seclude a person from the outside world and their family, but it also has a negative effect on their relationships with other people. Instead of confronting an issue with someone, people will now use the TV as an escape from reality and an alternative for confrontation. This becomes unhealthy and can almost transform a person to become antisocial. Overall when the television set is on it dominates over the life or lives of the viewers, numbing them to any realization of what else is going on around them. Notice that all of these results coincide with...