Reading
Before you read:
· Answer the following questions:
1. Is TV often watched in your family?
2. What generation of your family spends most time watching TV? Why?
3. Do you think that ‘idiot box’ is a fair definition for TV? What makes you think so?
4. Study the box below and match the notions from the left column with the texts from the right column.
| Wonder | According to the National Institute on Media and the Family, a child who watches 3 to 5 hours of television a day can view up to 40,000 commercials each year. This increases their desire for expensive brand-name products and fuels disappointment when such items are not bought. |
| Education | Unlike the physical activity of outdoor games or the social interaction of classroom activities, TV watching is an isolating, inactive experience. The child is conditioned to accept information passively, instead of taking the initiative and seeking it out on her own. |
| Passivity | The National Institute on Media and the Family also reports that a child can be exposed to 200,000 televised acts of violence by the time he reaches 18. Aside from skewing his view of the world as a dangerous and untrustworthy place, these acts can increase aggression. |
| Violence | The mysteries of the deep sea, the wonders of outer space and the animal varieties in the natural world can delight children and stimulate their imagination without exposing them to any danger. |
| Advertising | Kids may be entertained for hours with programs that engage their sense of seeing and hearing. Parents can go about their daily business at home, knowing their kids are occupied in one location |
| Amusement | Programs designed to teach children, such as "Sesame Street," can expose them to vocabulary, math, science, history and art before they go to school. Such learning is also a useful supplement to classroom education. |
· Read a small article in the box below.
| Popular TV shows teach children fame is most important value, UCLA* psychologists report By Stuart Wolpert Fame is the No. 1 value emphasized by television shows popular with 9- to 11-year-olds, a dramatic change over the past 10 years, UCLA psychologists report in a new study. On a list of 16 values, fame jumped from the 15th spot, where it was in both 1987 and 1997, to the first spot in 2007. From 1997 to 2007, benevolence (being kind and helping others) fell from second to 13th, and tradition dropped from fourth to 15th. "I was shocked, especially by the dramatic changes in the last 10 years," said the lead author of the study. "I thought fame would be important but did not expect this drastic an increase or such a dramatic decrease in other values, such as community feeling. If you believe that television reflects the culture, as I do, then American culture has changed drastically." Community feeling (being part of a group) was the No. 1 value in 1967, 1977 and 1997, and it was the No. 2 value in 1987, the study found. By 2007, however, it had fallen out of the top 10, to 11th. The top five values in 2007 were fame, achievement, popularity, image and financial success. In 1997, the top five were community feeling, benevolence (being kind and helping others), image, tradition and self-acceptance. In 2007, benevolence dropped to the 12th spot and community feeling fell to 11th. Financial success went from 12th in 1967 and 1997 to fifth in 2007. The two least emphasized values in 2007 were spiritualism (16th) and tradition (15th); tradition had been ranked fourth in 1997. * UCLA - University of California, Los Angeles |
ü Comment on what you’ve read. What does the statistics show?
ü What moral values does TV promote in your country?
ü What moral values should TV promote? Should it promote any moral values at all? Give reasons for your viewpoint.
Reading
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