Dangers of watching television

[mysticwarrior]

When i where still a little kid, i did wakeup every morning with watching to the television. I really spended to much time with watching television. I did thought about everything that i had seen on it. If i look back now, i think if have learned a lot about watching television. I even learned to alphabet from the television. But i also had found out, that the television had lot off influenced on me as a kid. I also found my self sometimes sad about things i had seen on the television. Sometime i became even scared about things, because i had seen bad things about it on the television. When i became older, i liked it always to play in the woods, that where near my house. I made underground tunnels, and spend a lot of time, playing a reality which i had seen in a war film. It became so real to me, well in fact it was all just fantasy. When i had seen a bruce lee movie, i became a little bruce lee, who kicked every one his faces, because i thought i was a hero. Well in fact i was just an asshole!

I've spend the last couple of years many time reading psychology stuff. It is something that i am really interested in. And i started to think about the influences that television had on us, as humans. The more i did study this, the more shocked i was about the things that i found out. Really i am starting to believe that the television really has such a great power, that to much people are underestimating this nice electronic furniture. here are a lot of people out there in this world, who are really addicted to watching television. It is in fact really a drug, that can have good and bad results on our psychological conditions. And i have really experienced them both.

I also found last years a lot of dutch news articles, that proved a lot of how huge this power that the television has on our psychological conditions. Kids hung them selfs, because they saw that day Saddam Hussein was hunged in the front of them on live television. Before 1959 in Holland there where 0,00 bank robbery's, but then the television had borne. More and more people did buy a television, and from of that year it did take long and everyone already had one television in the living room. But from 1959, things changed rapidly. The first bank robbery took place somewhere in the 1960's, it was really big news in Television land. Everyone was astonished about it and everyone talked about it at the streets. But not soon after this first successful bank robbery, more and more bank robbery's took place. Nowadays, it's just a normal thing. The media does not even spend much time on it, because it just does not sell so good anymore. We really need to have strong stimulating news, then are stimulating our brain cells. I can go on and on and on about things and problems that started to exist since the television became a normal thing to have in your living room.

I also did some other research and started to wonder, if it could trigger psychological problems. Or if people can get traumatized about watching television. And guess what, it also sounds like this really happening to people. I have seen, and read so much about people who where gone crazy because they had seem to have watched to much television. Lucky enough, scientists are finding out more and more about this stuff. But beside that, no one seem to do anything about it. I think where to addicted and sensitive for watching television. I see that many peoples don't are able to realize anymore, that things which are on the television are most of time far from the truth. Reality and fantasy is to much mixed together.

I also did editing video's for a while, and again i started to notice how easy it was to decide which emotion you wanted to show up in your video. Music and sound can do in that case already a miracles wonder!

In fact, i honestly believe that the television is a great object. But the big business industry's, that appear behind the teleivsion screens, are just doing it the wrong way. I believe that a television could have be used to make our society healthy, your could create people with a positive look on there lives. In fact i believe the television is just like magic. But there are dangeres wizards out there, who don't really know where they are fucking with. They don't care, because they get pay very well.

But sad enough, the big business is trying to make us addictive. And don't care about the psychological damage there television programs can trigger. Like with everything, the money becomes more important then everything else. Right now, i can only tell that there are a lot psychological problems that only exist because this television. It kills people literally, i mean it makes from innocent people, heartless serial killers, pedophiles, rapers and the list go's on and on and on. And still nobody really hangs on the alarm bells and say that there is something really wrong going on.

So i am really curious about, what you people think about this, because i see television right now, really as a threat for our society. It makes us dumb, lazy, confused, depressed etc etc. People are just so easy to manipulate, really i've done it a lot in the past. Last week i saw a documentary from Darren Brown which probably a lot of you people already now about. The documentary that i've watched, was the Heist. He selected 4 view people from out a group of 19 people. He selected only the people who he could influence the most easy. Finally he programmed there mind in such a way, that they would do a bank robbery. Really 3 of the 4 people exactly did it. Lucky enough for them, every thing was followed by camera's and of course Darren Brown his self. To it was set up, that no one could have been heart or something like that. If your interested in this kind of stuff, you really need to watch this documentary "The heist, by Darren Brown."

Well i am to tired now, i could have written ours about how easy where are influenced by the television. But i am just really curious about what you guys have to say about this.

Greets,
Mystic.

 

[Psychoid]

Well it is true that television puts in people's mind ideas that they would never have thought about otherwise, and more often than not they are negative ideas, as people like hearing and seeing horrible things at TV, more than good things, and medias know that.

 

[st.bot.32]

I rarely watch TV these days, I don't even own one at present. I certainly don't miss it! I agree, TV has become a reality drug.

I heard a really interesting point recently on what has happened with cable TV over the past two decades. Back when George Bush Sr. was running for prez there were only a few TV stations. Now you can flip between dozens of tv stations, each with their own perspective and possibly agenda on the political scene. This is a new thing, and rather than being merely manipulated, people now use TV to actively seek out that which reinforces their beliefs rather than challenging them. (Of course, people can do this with the net). Hence it is a reality drug. But I don't think there really is anything new going on here other than the epic scale factor. Most humans don't question their surroundings, and TV is just a modern incarnation in a series of things by which some humans manipulate others who want to be manipulated. Before that it was music.. religion, politics, propaganda, racist beliefs, you name it.

As for tv directly causing crimes, I've always found the links in these stories to be somewhat dubious and perhaps a kind of media hype in themselves (when bus crimes were the story du jour in Canada recently, suddenly the media was covering lots of bus crimes. for all we know they are going on all the time but the media only chooses to cover them as they are what sells at the moment.. magic mushroom accidents in holland are another perfect example). Also as the saying goes, correlation is not causation. Watching TV news won't make someone randomly snap and decide "hey I'm going to rob a bank today!" or "hey, I'm going to take 5g of mushrooms and jump out a window today!" A person would have to have some serious issues going on within already, and maybe, just perhaps a tv program acted like a catalyst for them. I agree it is true that TV may give a person negative ideas but let's be honest, the human imagination is vast, certain people are just incredibly negative and if it wasn't TV it would be a book or any other form of media where they would take their ideas from.

 

[mysticwarrior]

As for tv directly causing crimes, I've always found the links in these stories to be somewhat dubious and perhaps a kind of media hype in themselves (when bus crimes were the story du jour in Canada recently, suddenly the media was covering lots of bus crimes. for all we know they are going on all the time but the media only chooses to cover them as they are what sells at the moment.. magic mushroom accidents in holland are another perfect example). Also as the saying goes, correlation is not causation. Watching TV news won't make someone randomly snap and decide "hey I'm going to rob a bank today!" or "hey, I'm going to take 5g of mushrooms and jump out a window today!" A person would have to have some serious issues going on within already, and maybe, just perhaps a tv program acted like a catalyst for them. I agree it is true that TV may give a person negative ideas but let's be honest, the human imagination is vast, certain people are just incredibly negative and if it wasn't TV it would be a book or any other form of media where they would take their ideas from.

I understand what your saying right here. But... I believe there or two kind of people. You have people who primary think visual and you have those people who primary think intellectual. The group of people who think in an intellectual way, are less senitive and not so easy influenced by watching television. But the other group of people who think primarily in images en sounds, they experience everything more real then someone who primarily thinks in an intellectual way. Please do some research on this, because of course it not that simple like this. But i don't know how to explain it properly.

I still want to suggest watching "Darren Brown - The Heist" these four people who did the bank robbery. Where people who never had done something like this before, they did not had any criminal record and where almost all successful with there job lifes. But still it did not took much for Darren to make criminal from them. All the people who joined this project, thought that they where gonna learn something from Darren, well in fact darren used them for his own demonstration. So Darren learned them something, but was constantly when learning the people some psychological stuff, confronted them with word phrases, which did contain words like STEAL etc. He also programmed a feeling/anchor in the mind of these people when a certain song was played. This song finally caused the feeling, why 3 of 4 people actually robbed the bank.

These mind games that Darren plays, are also massively show on television. And with a view words and pictures, a large group of people are to easy to influence. Of course an book can do the same thing, but with a book one still is available to make his own interpretation, which is hard for a lot of people who are watching television. It's proven that the television reduces a sort of hypnoses. So finally words and images gonna have a much more impact on us, then some text out of a book.

I am one of the first generation of kids who grow up, with watching television. When i was a kid, the cartoons where most of the time really cartoons. But nowadays, there's a lot killing and abusing in these Cartoons. And the generation that followed me, become more violent etc.

Another thing i noticed, is the this. When some idiot kid, runs in his school with guns and kill some other kids. We see many times, when the weeks do past, that the same kind of stuff happens on other parts in the world.

Before the television was borne, we had in Holland the church who decided which are the norms of our society. We as dutch people, where really following the stuff that the church leaders told us. Of course criminal things did happen, but since the birth of Television things going really bad. How longer the television existed, and the more it was developed, the more problems started to exist.

I am sure, that i am one those people who primarily think visually. And because that i am also aware of the influence that the television had on my life. So please people, think about it. And tell me that i am really wrong, because i see a big big big problem, that's making our society's sick.

Greets,
Mystic.

 

[magickmumu]

Terence Mckenna turned me on to Marshall McLuhan.
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan

McLuhan has some very interesting ideas about media and how it effects us. I own two of his books. Understanding Media & The Gutenberg Galaxy
Understanding Media has a chapter about Television. McLuhan died in 1980 so he never saw the internet.

 

[ararat]

I am one of the first generation of kids who grow up, with watching television. When i was a kid, the cartoons where most of the time really cartoons. But nowadays, there's a lot killing and abusing in these Cartoons. And the generation that followed me, become more violent etc.

Another thing i noticed, is the this. When some idiot kid, runs in his school with guns and kill some other kids. We see many times, when the weeks do past, that the same kind of stuff happens on other parts in the world.

Before the television was borne, we had in Holland the church who decided which are the norms of our society. We as dutch people, where really following the stuff that the church leaders told us. Of course criminal things did happen, but since the birth of Television things going really bad. How longer the television existed, and the more it was developed, the more problems started to exist.

cartoons became more violent? tom and jerry weren't exactly peaceful (loved them)

I don't think it's the TV's fault when some kid runs into school and kills other people. it's rather the kid's surroundings which pulls the kid to do this. just as much counterstrike doesn't make people to killers. if you take a look at these gunmen, it's clear it's not the TV or the computer that made them to what they are, it's all the other people, the culture, their surroundings etc.
don't get me wrong, I agree that TV had a big impact on our culture and on individuals.

also, as st.bot.32 said, "correlation is not causation.". many other things happened, not only TV was born.

some time ago I saw a statistic, that people who have trouble communicating are way more likely to spend more time in front of the tv than others. happy people don't watch that much tv.


my problem (problem? whatever, it would be better to say what I don't like about tv is that you are constantly sold something. if I can't stand something, than it's comercials and adverstising. I have to listen radio in work all the time, and there is so much advertising. and at home I sometimes switch on the tv to watch one or two episodes of the simpsons, and guess what's on, comercials, yay!
I somtimes think the tv was invented just for selling stuff. same thing with the radio.

 

[restin]

cartoons became more violent? tom and jerry weren't exactly peaceful Wink (loved them)

Yes, but did you see cartoon network nowadays? It is really extremely violent.

 

[ararat]

cartoons became more violent? tom and jerry weren't exactly peaceful Wink (loved them)

Yes, but did you see cartoon network nowadays? It is really extremely violent.

no, we don't have that channel here. but when I was in boston I watched it for a few minutes sometimes, but mostly spongebob

 

[mysticwarrior]

I added a poll, because i really would like to now what others think about this.... Tonight i am going deeper into this conversation.

 

[st.bot.32]

historically, if you look at even just our civilization up until a few centuries ago, public spectacles and public entertainment contained acts of violence that make tv look like a joke--and they were real acts of violence. the townsfolk really would gather around and watch the king's ugly goons hang somebody, disembowl and castrate them while still alive, cut them up and watch them die. or cheer while watching people impale each other. or watch slaves get slaughtered in the arena, or eaten by animals. or burned alive. or cheer while watching two angsty twenty year olds duel to the death. society even still glamorizes some of these spectacles centuries later.

and these kind of people still exist even in civilized society. they want capital punishment back, they want blood, they want war. they want to vent their anger and frustration at the world--in the form of cruelty directed at others.

i tend to see violence in modern media as just an expression of a part of what makes us human, a very horrible and ugly part of human existence, but real nonetheless. we all have ways of dealing with this reality. some people appreciate black humor, some people make films documenting suffering, some people bury themselves in war literature in an attempt to understand human cruelty, some merely embrace it and desensitize themselves to it. some become the monster. this is a part of the human psyche, it is there in all of us to a greater or lesser degree.

so, i see television as more an outlet, and less as an influence. i do agree though that perhaps in some people it could be the spark that sets them off. in far many others though it is a form of catharsis in which they can vent their primal rage and frustrations at a screen rather than venting them in real life.

 

[restin]

I hope you excuse me but I only overflew the whole topic but I promise that I will read it as soon as I have the energy!!

@ misery: Spongebob is a good movie, it is deeper than you may think. Consider that the creator is a sea-biologist :wink:

I voted that TV has a large influence but that it doesn't create psychological problems although I want to make some things clear in that. I am quite sure that TV doesn't make us schizophrenic or any similar. And I also don't think thatt TV makes us asocial or any similar, when you watch it in normal time periods, it doesn't make you asocial. It is like drugs in general, if you don't abuse, you will not get any harm. But it influences us of course, as most uf us are confronted with it very early, even earlier than books!

As said, I will read what you wrote!!

 

[FluidDruid]

I voted Yes.

Media, and TV in general (especially in the states) has and is shaping the culture around me. In movies, books, radio programs, tv programs we are told that we should be AFRAID! Or that it's ok that our rights are being taken from us because of 'x' reason. They demonize things that they do not like, without research or consideration.

TV is one of the reasons society is so afraid of their own minds. There are countless programs on prime-time television every week about people addicted to various drugs, crimes related to said drugs, "crazy" indians using said drugs religiously yet "ignorantly". TV has contributed to the doom and gloom society in which I grew up in, and remain in.

In my opinion.

 

[restin]

But from the view of society it is better like that. Children movies that teach the kids to be "good" are of course manipulation but they are also a part of education and ability to socialize. I mean, a 5 year old kid won't get it if you tell him "Every human needs to decide, you have responsibility over your deeds and the world is neither bad nor good". Also about the drugs, I mean there needs to be a warning about drugs, as I personally don't want little 13 yo kids to smoke ganja and they will somewhen get in contact with drugs.

 

[mrvn]

There's a lot to learn for tv. English p.a. But i stopped watching tv for about a year or 2 now and i must say that i feel a lot better cause a lot of programs and media are rubbish. This doesn't mean i don't watch at all, i think max 1 time a week. I prefer watching movies or gaming.
I found out that whenever i'm watching tv i get really irritated by false media and shows like iduls and all those f?cking commercials.

 

[Brugmansia]

TV is a projection into the center of one's thoughts. And we can't deny that the programmers and controllers over that projection may have certain motives to push the awareness into a specific direction.

But so is this forum from an objective point of view. You stumbled in by chance, from where the pressure started to keep visiting it. But we tend to consider it as attraction and our will. But you have pulled into it, in fact. Difference is that we know that it's content is what our self is truly looking for. But the happening is similar.

If someone from the authorities would encounter this forum and start posting about us not participating with convinced focus within the current course of the 'civilisated society', we might as well do attempts to bend his awareness into what we think is right by projecting with what we know.

People should work their self's to know whether the content of an incoming projection truly belongs to them, instead of blindly assuming. It's not the TV who's responsible for eventual depressive states, but a lack of self-knowledge and transparant vision. Not filtering any undesired incoming influences.

On the other hand, depressive people may exist heavier or more because your awareness has been enlighted. Observations are done with opened eyes.

If you're tripping around people in a city and you see them buying clothes, looking at perfection and success, you may realise at some point that it's harder to deal with it for yourself than it is for them.

 

[Forkbender]

I think people overreact to television, on both sides of this argument.

 

[????????]

internet makes tv obsolete. the information is in the cloud and you seek it, with tv you get what's going on when you turn it on. and what's going on is strictly supervised. i do believe tv is dangerous in the sense that it shapes culture by way of the great numbers of people that watch it. it's another tool to manipulate the herd.

 

[Caduceus Mercurius]

Y'all want a single?

 

[mysticwarrior]

[quote="Φιλι

 

[druglessdouglas]

the main danger for me is a £1000 fine or prison, because i wouldnt pay the fine. you need a licencse here and im not paying for one