Communication and Television

Humans are proven to be the best of animal species not because they have smarter brain but they can most effectively understand the other human being. Of course other living creatures too understand each other and a little more of their enemies but they are no match to humans when it comes to communication. From the Stone age to global world humans have understood and explained the demand of the situation. They have adapted best therefore evolved best. All of this was possible because of their constant communication skill. Humans can simultaneously be both emotional and rational. They will rationally create something to communicate something most emotional. Television is one such miracle of human evolution.

"My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky" are the words of the most celebrated romantic poet William Wordsworth. The discovery of television has helped us see these kinds of imagination with our own eyes in an easy way. Even John Logie Baird, the inventor of electric television would perhaps not have imagined of the impact which television has today in society. Television has made communication fast, effective, more reliable. With the help of television one can receive reliable news from the four direction of the world at the click of remote control. The technique of presenting diverse, colorful imagination into visual property has enchanted viewers of all the age and areas. It communicates ideas of education, information, imagination in an entertaining way.

However print, radio and Television often work in synchrony, the last is more powerful than the preceding two. Television uses visuals which communicate most effectively to convey the meaning. For example, there is a vast difference between listening to a live cricket match on radio and watching it on TV. The latter gives the viewer much more comprehensive and dynamic picture of the event.

According to famous scientist Vikram Sarabhai, Television should be used for education purpose. This use of Television has benefited the students of remote areas. There are education programs in which comparably tough subjects such as science, mathematics and English are taught by different teachers. It can be also helpful in decreasing the fear of such subjects in students as the medium being visual the students are not afraid of their teachers.

Information dissemination has gained momentum over the recent years in television this is specially due to the availability of internet. Whether it is news, wild life or some space project, television has everything to offer. It has many interesting and important things to offer.

Television has communicated to the people of all ages in the most effective way. It has also played an important role in the lives of ordinary people by communicating culturally powerful ethos. For example, one cannot help noticing the tug of war between husband and wife over the remote control whenever there are concurrent program like cricket match and TV serial.

Television is arguably the most effective medium of communicating a messages as it appeals both eye and ear simultaneously. As soon as television starts communicating, it captures the whole attention of its audience. It is powerful also because it can appeal and communicate both literate and illiterate. Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of Franklin Roosevelt, says " Television is the newest and most controversial wonder child of modern science and industrial ingenuity, and because it appeals to both the eye and ear simultaneously, television may make the greatest possible impression on the human mind."

The television has its drawbacks too. It has negatively impacted the children mostly. It diverts more than it helps. There have been instances of children ill communicated by TV programs. Obscene and violent visuals and language could impress the mind of children in a most negative way. In modern day cartoons and games cultivate young innocent minds of children in the most illogical and brutal way. The powerful graphics of the games haunt the psychology of the children like nightmare. TV steals children's time from important activities. For hours the toddlers as well as rather young children keep sitting before television sets gaping into the virtual reality of this evil media. The sportive games and activities have almost ceased to take place.

The aim of television might have been to draw people closer from the world over but instead even the family members have become distant in one's own house. The latest version of television in the form of You Tube backed by high speed internet connection has completed this all. Now one can see hundreds of people sitting in airport, bus station or railway station but no one talks to anyone. The real communication has lost its charm and importance as every source of information is available more accurately and speedily over internet. This negative impact of television must be dreaded of.

Many scholars have disdained television fearing that it could create virtual and unreal earth on the earth where real problems will be shrouded over the fantasy and fancy of visual media. Newton N. Minow calls the television programs as the "vast wasteland", further a study conducted by John Robinson and Steven Martin from the University of Maryland declares that the people unsatisfied with their life spend 30% more time than the satisfied ones. Television has therefore been criticized and given various names such as 'idiot box', 'boob tube', 'chewing gum' etc.