The Pros and Cons of Television

Television has been around for years now. It started out as a gigantic box with black and white images, and progressed into these almost flat devices with high quality graphics and anything else in between. You can do a lot of things with your television as far as what you watch, how much of it you watch, or literally what you do with the TV itself (like use it to put your candles on, or to collect yarn, but really it depends on the TV). However, as far as what you can watch on it, there can be some benefits to it, and there can be serious defects.



Pros:

1) Particular taste in entertainment. Here's something that I realized about TV: if you limit your sources to entertainment, you don't find it necessary anymore. Growing up, I was only exposed to cable when I was at my grandparents' house. At home, I only had DVDs and VHSs of movies TV series that my mother approved of. I had a pretty sufficient supply, so it's not like I didn't have anything to watch. When I had more of a source to cable, my source of entertainment was still subsided to a certain amount that wasn't too much, nor too little. If you have those type of movies and/or TV shows that you like watching that come on every once in a while, that's good. The best part is that you have something to look forward to weekly.

2) Unlimited sources of interests. Due to the variety of channels to watch, there will always be something new to get into. I'm not saying that you should just go turn on your TV and get stuck into any series, but you can find something that interest you. If I feel like watching something esoteric, I watch something like Through the Wormhole on the Science Channel. If I want to watch something humorous, I watch MAD on Cartoon Network. If I'm looking for drama, I watch Glee on Fox. You can always find something.

3) Source of comfort. I don't really think this is an appropriate use for your television, but it could be used to get your mind off of things. I prefer music or something like that, but TV works too. There is proof that lonely people like to sleep with their TVs on so they don't feel alone.

Cons:

1) What exactly am I looking at? There is absolutely NO benefit to staring at a TV for an extended length of time whatsoever. You are just staring at a machine (which chances are, you cannot explain how it works) that shows a bunch of advertisements to the point where you can recite the commercials while it's simultaneously playing. In the end of the day, TV is not the greatest way to occupy your time.

2) Just because ... If you're one of those people who don't mind the last cons that I told you, then you might be familiar with doing this. There would be those days when you honestly have nothing to watch, but you have some time to find something to watch. So you start watching things from the news, to Lifetime, to Family Guy, to throwbacks of old shows that come on Teen Nick. I'm going to tell you right now: this is not a good sign. I'm pretty sure that you can find something better to do with your time. Seriously.

3) Wait... what was I thinking about? Watching television while you're eating sounds like a good idea, but you are really taking time away from your thoughts (whether it's about how the food tastes, or about your day, or any thought in general), and and letting the television give you your thoughts. This may just be my opinion, but I'm pretty sure it's best to eat without watching TV.



So television can do some good for you, but at the same time, it can do some damage. I'm not saying that you should stop watching TV entirely (even though that's not such a bad idea), but I just want you to reflect on your intake of TV. Is it too much? Is it not enough? That is up to you. I'm sure that there is more pros and cons than what I mentioned, so you can go and Google it for yourself. In fact, that's another alternative to watching television. That was easier than I thought.