Is television good or bad for you?

I recently visited some younger friends. One sure way of making yourself feel old is to catch up with young people! They have different tastes, different values and different attitudes. I love the line from L.P. Hartley’s book The Go-Between, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” I’m from the past – an older generation, and yes I do things differently.

Back to visiting this young couple, the ‘man of the house’, who is 26 years old, proudly told me that they no longer had a television, because they’d ‘given it up’. He made this proclamation as though he had turned away from some terrible vice. It was like he was saying, “I’ve stopped drinking”, “I no longer eat sugar”, “I’m a life-long vegan”.  It was a proclamation. He was terribly proud to have done away with the TV set. I’m not sure what the TV ever did to him, but he clearly saw it as a weakness and was glad to have it gone.

Why have millennials abandoned TV?

Okay, you know I’m a voracious reader. I believe that life is one life-long quest for self-improvement. If you don’t keep growing you die. I always carry a book. I’m always reading and learning. I also like to meet new people and learn from them. I like to visit new places. I am hardly wasting my life away by staying indoors watching countless reruns of soap operas, but I have a television and I see no shame in that. I believe it is important to stay connected to the world.  It is my responsibility as a citizen of the world to be aware what is happening around the globe. I not only watch the Australian news on television, but I also follow news sites in the US, Asia and Europe from time to time. I vote at elections, it is my duty to be across the most pressing political issues. But one of the reasons I believe younger people have turned away from TV is because the ‘millennial’ generation is more politically disengaged than previous generations.

A study by San Diego State University has found that Millennials – those born between the years 1982 and 2000 – are more focused on material possessions than contributing to the larger community. Social scientists analysed two databases of nine million US high school seniors or students entering college. The students were asked about life goals, concern for others and civic involvement since the 1960s. Report author Professor Jean Twenge told USA Today, “Overall, the pattern is pretty clear. The trend is more of an emphasis on extrinsic values such as money, fame, and image, and less emphasis on intrinsic values such as self-acceptance, group affiliation and community." I believe an Australian study would come to similar conclusions about young Australians. Some people believe the internet and social media have made young people more narcissistic. They are so busy posting selfies to their Facebook profiles; they have no time for social causes! Other people argue that because the country is run by ‘older’ people, young people feel they have no power and no influence so should just give up. Also in Australia, too many young people are locked out of the housing market. They feel politically and financially powerless. The International Millennial Dialogue study has now been in 22 countries across the globe. The study has found that young people lack an interest in politics. In the UK just 11percent said they were ‘very interested’ in politics, furthermore just 21 percent feel they are able to make their voice heard.

Let’s re-engage the disengaged!

I would like communities to make a real effort to politically re-engage young people. When given the chance, I try to engage young people in discussions about social issues. I think every parent has a duty to talk to their children about social issues and politics, and make sure their children understand their country’s political system. If young people became politically re-engaged perhaps they would again embrace television and start watching shows like Q&A.

I know that young people consume news on the internet, but I still believe that television is a socially uniting force. It is not just good and bad news that unites a community, but also hit television shows. I may have watched one or two reality TV episodes. I think of those show as car-crash television. It really is like passing a road accident. You want to look away, but instead end up gawking. 1.2 million Australians watched the show Bachelorette for example. Yes, in some ways that show is a unifying force. People at work all around Australia talked about how much free publicity Sophie Monk got by hanging around with a dozen young men, and throughout the whole series she kept a straight face.

Television can be good for you!

There is no way I am going to give up watching television, even if the younger generation has. In fact I have been researching how television is good for you, and I want to share what I found. There is a website called “Connect with Your Teens” that recommends you sit down and watch television with your  teenagers, so you have more shared conversational areas. After reading these findings you can have some downtime this festive season in front of the television guilt-free!!!! Think about it as research. You will be across what many people are viewing. You can refer to shows you’ve seen and use them as conversation openers when at parties!

The Top 10 Benefits of Watching Television (according to the Connect with Your Teens website):

1. Intelligence – Complex TV series such as Lost, require a great deal of thinking to understand what is happening. In fact, this was the argument of author Steve Johnson in his book Everything Bad is Good for You: How today’s popular culture is actually making us smarter.

2. Learn about different people and places – While nothing beats actual travel for this type of learning, most people are limited in the amount of travel they can do. TV opens up the world, whether through watching documentaries, or drama series with multicultural characters.

3. Water Cooler effect – TV can often give office mates with little in common, something to talk about. This is especially so with series that lend themselves to discussion. Again, think of The Bachelorette!

4. Laughter – Laughing is good for us. As the saying goes, laughter is the best medicine. It has been found to increase circulation, lower blood pressure and more. Watching a good comedy on TV can be a great way to find something to laugh about.

5. How-To – Australia has a plethora of how-to shows, including many cooking and home renovations shows. You can learn new skills watching these programs.

6. Excitement – Contest shows such as Australian Idol and Survivor give you the fun and excitement of having favourites and barracking for a winner.

7. Educational and Informative – With nature documentaries such as David Attenborough’s Planet Earth and SBS’s Secrets of the Sun, watching TV is as educational as going to school. Plus, how many times have you learned something while watching a regular TV series? Let’s face it most people learn about the criminal justice system by watching shows about crime, police and lawyers. I’ve been watching The Crown on Netflix and now know so much more about twentieth-century English history!

8. Memory – With all the serial shows on television, from the intriguing Doctor Blake’s Mysteries, to the comical Doc Martin we need to remember what has happened from week to week to enjoy them.

9. Makes exercise easier – When doing a stationary exercise like being on a treadmill, it can get very boring. Reading is difficult because of the movement. Music helps but doesn’t give you anything to look at. There must be a reason why there are televisions in most gyms.

10. Gives families something to bond over – my favourite reason. I know many families who love watching The Big Bang Theory together. Television has led to some great conversations. Many shows feature romances between key characters. If you are watching with your children it is a great way to open a conversation about relationships. This is your chance to teach your children about fidelity, respect and all the responsibilities that come with love and a relationship. If that isn’t an advantage to watching television then I don’t know what is!