Banishing One-Eyed Demons
Lessons on Televised Hegemony
As far back as Ancient Greece, people have been writing about how important happiness is to the human condition, if not the general welfare of life itself. In line with this, anyone who has ever been burdened by anything knows how important it is to be able to spend time doing something enjoyable. None-the-less, many of the so-called luxuries of the modern world actually serve to make people unsatisfied rather than satisfied. Of these standard conveniences, television is one of the most common and most detrimental.
Simply put, the amount of television that people watch is directly proportional to the degree of happiness that they experience in their life. Two of the main problems associated with this are concerned with the quantity and quality of programs and commercials that bombard viewers’ senses on a daily basis. In simple everyday terms, someone who watches three hours of television would be far less depressed by only watching it for two hours a day.
In general, screens tell people who to like, how to act, what to wear — -in short, how to live their life. It all comes down to the fact that the persuasive and pervasive power of the popular culture is gradually destroying the already limited freedom that everyone has to be an individual. However, the effects of television on socialization are not by any means all negative. People undoubtedly learn far more now than people did before the advent of television and the internet.
Regardless since the problems associated with watching screens are twofold so too are the solutions. On the one hand, the solution to the problem of quantity is obvious people just need to watch less television in order to be less depressed. Happier people report less time watching television, so you can do basically anything other than watch TV and you will probably be better off. Problem solved, everyone just needs to find some meaning in their life or at the very least get a hobby or something.
On the other hand, the solution to the problem of quality is not so obvious. This requires everyone to be critical and really think about what it is the mass media is exposing them to. This makes it is necessary for you to examine the hidden or latent meanings in things to understand what it is that is intended, not merely overtly expressed in the context of what is presented. In order to think on your own you have to think for your own. Otherwise, by passively viewing television you allow yourself to become a mindless zombie brainwashed by the media.
The fact of the matter is that the modern world is dominated by people that interact with video screens. One of the problems with this is that from the moment that someone is born until the moment they die there is only so much that anyone can do in a single lifetime. From this teleological point of view, television is nothing more than a way to distract people from themselves’ through amusement, which is literally the negation of inspiration. So, the next time you find yourself about to stare at the old boob tube, do yourself a favor and consider all the other things you could possibly be doing. Then, if you still decide to watch something, at least watch it very closely and think about what it is that you are being shown and why.
