The television as shepherd

[If you have been following along, you know my first three columns were about the plight of Nicholls and the state budget crunch. What will follow week by week, however, is a little bit of everything. Since I’m a journalist and historian, you’ll get some commentary on the media, some historical facts, and some humor thrown in from time to time. I hope you enjoy it.]

Let’s begin with a solemn moment. Depending on how many televisions you own, you may want to bow your head.

The TV is my Shepherd. I shall not want.

It makes me to lie down on the sofa.

It leads me away from the Scriptures.

It destroys my soul.

It leads me in the paths of sex and violence for the sponsor’s sake.

Yea, though I walk in the shadow of my Christian responsibilities,

There will be no interruption, for the TV is with me.

Its cable and its remote, they comfort me.

It prepares a commercial before me in the presence of my worldliness.

It anoints my head with consumerism.

My coveting runneth over.

Surely laziness and ignorance shall follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house watching TV forever.

If you can relate to this, and I think a large number of us can to varying degrees, then let’s consider the immense impact of television.

Regarding its news and immediacy, television is a window on the world. The question is, what kind of a window is it? Yes, it shows us what’s happening in the world. It teaches us about other places, other people, other philosophies, other cultures.

The good news is it pushes the economic engine of this country and every other economy that has the technology. After all, television’s goal, its primary goal, is not to entertain or educate; it is to sell stuff. Mass production equals mass advertisement equals mass spending equals America.

And it does other good things. It offers cheap entertainment. It provides a source of news. It has educational value. But like most things in life, it has a dark side. It creates consumerism. Do we need stuff, or do we just want it? Which leads to a larger question: Is materialism replacing spirituality in American society, in part because of the influence of TV?

And it has negative effects on society. It adversely affects children. Its long-term effects are unknown. It creates sameness in whoever watches it. Watch enough of it and we’ll begin to sound more alike, talk more alike, talk about the same things, ad nauseum.

On another level, can anyone argue that since the coming of television around 1950 we have seen an increase in violence and a major shift in sexual attitudes? Is it all TV’s fault? No, but TV’s not an innocent in this American play.

And then there’s the question on TV’s effect on our children. The average child between the ages of two and five watches about 26 hours a week. Is the television an education tool or a babysitter? Those of you with kids in pre-school that show television to the kids may want to answer that one.

And get this: From ages 6 to 18, a young person spends 11,000 hours in the classroom but anywhere from 15,000 to 20,000 in front of the television. Question: Who’s teaching whom what?

Even worse, experts say that TV adversely affects the socialization process of young people because it has forever changed the process of growing up, of being a child, of learning about life. In short, TV has eroded the line between childhood by making the world totally accessible to children. Where in previous generations young people grew up through the simple process of living, this is no longer the case. I give you the sexual escapades of most reality shows, of most drama shows, of most sit-coms, and, if you watch the Dallas Cowgirl cheerleaders and their clones, most pro football games.

About how it creates a sameness. Think about this, in pre-television days, people ate dinner with their families, talked with neighbors, even (be still my heart) communicated with family members, read books, played board games. Now we can all watch the same thing while we don’t eat with our families, don’t talk with neighbors or family, or don’t play board games. We do, however, all meet at work the next day to discuss the latest episode of “Lost” or “Survivor,” or whatever is the latest “hot” new show.

And still we don’t know the long-term effects. After all, television has only been around for 60 years. Makes one wonder about the changes it might bring in us in 160.

I tell you, it makes me want to block out the rest of the world, turn on the computer and surf the Web all day.

– Lloyd Chiasson Jr. is a professor in mass communication at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. Dr. Chiasson co-authored Reporter’s Notebook, and served as co-author and editor of The Press in Times of Crisis, The Press on Trial, Three Centuries of American Media and Illusive Shadows. He is also the author of a novel, Stutterstep.