A Mass Effect: Television's Impact on American Culture (Stages of Televiewing)

Television has become so intertwined with the American way of life, that an entirely new standard for what is considered rude behavior versus polite behavior has been created. Shorter attention spans become more and more evident as Americans have branched many of the habits formed from watching television into how they conduct themselves in the classroom, the workplace and other public settings. According to Conrad Phillip Kottak, author of Prime-Time Society: An Anthropological Analysis of Television and Culture, there are various stages of televiewing. Different stages correspond to the length of television exposure in a particular society.

The initial stage is one of fascination and focus. When television is first introduced, the viewers are glued to the set in awe. In this stage, the message on the television is less likely to be received, as people are more amazed by the object in front of them than the actual content on the screen. Typically, after about 10-15 years of exposure, viewers move onto ‘Stage II,’ where partial absorption is achieved. As a result of becoming more familiar with the phenomenon of television, people begin understanding more of the content on the screen. They begin accepting certain pieces of information while rejecting others. Understanding increases, and therefore, personal interpretation of the information being delivered becomes more prevalent. The greater the understanding demonstrated by the viewers, the more divided their attention becomes. This may seem counterintuitive at first, but once the novelty of the television wears off, the steadfast gazing fades away as well along with the curiosity. Viewers find themselves more comfortable with doing other things while they watch, and therefore, they pay less attention to the content. ‘Stage III’ occurs once television has reached the majority of homes in a community, causing a further decrease in the statistical measures of TV impact. According to Kottak, (1990: 143) “as a phenomenon pervades a community, its presence differentiates less and less among residents,” leading to less obvious and accurate statistical measurements. Finally, ‘Stage IV’ represents the lifelong effect of growing up in a culture that is constantly exposed to a television world.

Americans are currently in ‘Stage IV.’ Americans live in a culture where television and the effects of mass media surround nearly all of us in our day to day lives. Studies have shown that increased television exposure at a young age can result in an increased chance of having attention problems. According to Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, “frequent television viewers were most likely to score in the highest 10% for concentration problems, impulsiveness and restlessness. Every hour of watching TV increased a child’s odds of having attention problems by about 10%.” In other words, children who watch television for 4 hours a day will be 40% more likely to have attention problems compared with children who watch no television.

A Mass Effect: Television's Impact on American Culture (Introduction)

(I just completed a research paper on 'Television's Effect on American Culture.' Through my research, I encountered some interesting studies and came across some solid arguments, both positive and negative, as to what the long term affects of living in a society dominated by television will be. One of the points of exploration involves the shortening of the American attention span, which I feel is a direct result of exposure to television as a mass media. It is for that reason that I am breaking this paper into weekly segments so that all you children of the TV era can stay focused. If you make it through the full paper, then you are officially less distracted than the average American citizen. Good luck!)

Since its commercial availability in 1927, there has been no denying the popularity of a little invention called the television. Defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as an electronic system of transmitting images of fixed or moving objects together with sound over a wire or through space by apparatus that converts light and sound into electrical waves and reconverts them into visible light rays and audible sound, the television brought something truly and completely original to the households of people everywhere. It’s hard to put yourself in the mindset of a pre-television world, unless of course you’re old enough to remember one, but try to imagine how wild it must have been to see a moving image in front of you for the first time. Even the most revolutionary inventions in the world, i.e. the electric light bulb, the automobile, etc., were all based on previous inventions. Before the light bulb was the kerosene lamp. Before the automobile was the horse drawn carriage. Before television, however, the closest thing to watching TV in your household was watching your children put on some sort of play or listening to the radio while conjuring up images in your imagination. As is expected with such a drastically new form of media, there is bound to be some major changes in our culture as a result of its implementation. Television has created an entirely new behavioral pattern, never before seen, where attention spans are shorter than ever, shared knowledge has been altered dramatically, and the way we, as a people, think, react, and emote has been desensitized and dulled.