“Television the Plug-in Drug” by Marie Winn

Marie Winn's essay Television the Plug-in Drug did a very good job on explaining how television has changed the world. In her essay, she mainly talked about the way that television has changed and reshaped the way families spend time together. She focuses on the way television started from the whole family all sitting together watching a common show, to all members of the family by themselves, watching what they want to watch. Furthermore, the way parents have adapted to using television as a way of escaping bad situations with their kids, as well as a way to treat their children.

What wasn't said in this essay was many of the other problems that television causes to rise. In many places, what you watch determines the kinds of things you're into, and also who you are deep down. There are many people that I'm sure watch certain shows that they would be embarrassed if any of their friends found out that they watched. So in a sense, television also acts as a social acceptance. I'm also sure that there are shows one may pretend to like just to fit in with their friends, or a particular social circle. Shows on TV, as well as music, movies, and books all reflect on things you like. It's no wonder why some people get defensive when one is pillaging through their iTunes library on their laptop. In today's society, watching TV has only gotten easier, and more convenient. It used to be if you missed a show, you were out of luck. Now you have the ability to record, pause, fast-forward, and rewind normal TV programming. Not only that, but newer technology lets you stream movies instantly off the computer, and on to you're TV. If one wanted, they could be entertained by all of their favorite shows back to back all at the convenience of their thumb. What does this mean for the future? How could things get any easier? Technology is a speeding treadmill belt, and will continue to change with extreme haste. Something tells me we will only have more unanswered questions as we continue to be slapped in the face by the technology phenomena.