Shania Collins Laurie Oberg English 12 February 24, 2014

In Bruce E. Levine's article 8 Reasons Young Americans Don't Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance he talks about how television affects society. According to Levine television causes viewers to be brainwashed in a way that makes it difficult for the viewers to think critically while they are watching T.V. (Levine). There seems to be a correlation between the amount of T.V. Watching and if the person is untrusting of other people, and it makes them not as rebellious when it comes to political issues. Television is proven to cause a hypnotic or brainwashed state, can cause a lack of educational achievement, and make people lazy and cause them to separate from their families. When a persons right brain works faster than their left brain they go into a state of hypnosis (Wikipedia). This has been proven to happen while someone watches T.V.. This hypnotic effect can cause temporary pleasure but may lead to long term regret (Wikipedia). This is almost like any other addiction. When someone who watches a lot of T.V. goes without watching any T.V. they get withdrawals (Wikipedia). In this way watching the T.V. is bad for anyone to watch. Television can pose as a distraction for young kids all the way up to adults. The A. C. Nielsen Co. says that the average American watch more than 4 hours of T.V. a day (Hicks). That means the average American watches 28 hours per week of T.V. or 2 months on nonstop T.V. a year. This can distract people from the homework or bills or other important things that need to be done. In New Zealand they preformed a study over a course of some years using 1000 people,

showing that kids and adolescents that watch television showed a poor educational achievement by the age of 12 (Wikipedia). Another study showed that the more time 5-15 year olds watch T.V. the less likely they are to have a college degree by the age of 26. This is devastating that this advanced technology is causing such a distraction that kids aren't getting college degrees. Ever since the television came out people have been finding themselves sitting in front of the "tube" or constantly keeping the T.V. on. Now a days most homes have at least 3 televisions when back in the 1940s people were lucky to have one (Hicks). It was a luxury back then and now its become almost a necessity. Having a television set causes families to not have as much one on one time with each other. This can cause children and adolescents to disobey their parents and not have the support to not drink or do drugs (Hicks). Television has been proven to be almost an addiction. It can cause withdrawals and a desire to constantly watch it. It has also been proven to lead to poor achievement in school and can lead to young adults not having a college degree. Watching T.V. causes people to be in a hypnotic state of mind which makes it almost impossible for them to think critically.

Works Cited

Hicks, Carole. "Television's Impact on Society." Soul Food. N.p., 28 Mar 2008. Web. 13 Sep. 2013. Levine, Bruce. "8 Reasons Young Americans Don't Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance." AlterNet. N.p., 31 Jul 2011. Web. 10 Sep. 2013. Wikipedia. "Social aspects of television." Wikipedia, 31 Aug 2013. Web. 14 Sep. 2013.