Weekly Topic: Television (listen)
Well, everyone, I have to confess something to you. I REALLY DON’T LIKE television!! Even when I lived in the States, I didn’t like to watch TV very much. And later, during the many years that I lived in India, I didn’t even have a TV … and I didn’t miss it! Now in Japan, my wife and I have a very small TV, with no cable connection, and we usually use it only to watch DVD movies. (Maybe it’s true that it’s not so good to watch too many movies!)
I have to say that there are some good things about television. When I watched TV in the past, I always enjoyed watching documentaries about history, animals and nature, people, and things like aviation or the ocean. There really are some good things on TV, but I think that the OVERALL quality of TV programs is low. Maybe I mean that the EDUCATIONAL quality of TV is very poor. I just think that if you’re going to sit in front of a ‘box’ for many hours a day and stare at it, you should at least walk away with some new knowledge. Don’t you think so?
I think that ‘reality TV’ shows, ‘sitcoms’ (situational comedies) and ‘soap operas’ (daytime dramas) are really popular these days. But, are these the kinds of shows that can teach us something? I’m not sure, but I’m not optimistic that these kinds of shows are beneficial in any important way.
It seems to me that people watch WAY TOO MUCH TV! There’s a whole world of things to do around your house (play an instrument, read a book) and outside (check out the natural world, visit friends), and these are things that have a better chance to improve you. I recently asked some university students how much TV they watched. Wow, was I surprised when I got answers of 3 and 4 hours a day … or more!
To me, it looks like all of those television advertisements are just trying to convince you to buy things that you don’t really need. That’s another reason that I really don’t like TV.
What’s the situation with television where you are? Are the programs of good quality? Are there a lot of programs that are good for learning? Do people in your area watch too much TV?
[Thanks to our wonderful English learner, PRITI from India, I have finally gotten the motivation to start a ‘Weekly Topic’ on this blog. Thanks Priti for your suggestion, and I’m sorry it’s taken so long to do it!]
Image source: www.turnoffyourtv.com (top), www.clipartheaven.com (bottom)
December 16th, 2005 at 12:58 am
Hi dear John and your family , you are right about TV but you and other shouled have a good program instead watching TV and a searcher brain that does not satisfay with this kind of baloneis .