The other day in class, we were told an extremely shocking statistic: the average American watches 4.5 hours of TV a day, or about 14.5 years of their life (with 72 being the average life-span) are devoted to watching TV. 14.5 years of one's life living in a separate world - think of how much you would miss if you spent a continuous 14.5 years watching TV! I'm only 16, but if you subtract 14.5 years, I'd only have lived 1.5 years of my life! Obviously, the 14.5 hours is just an average, and it is spread out over a much longer period of time. But to me, the statistic is horrifying.
Yesterday, my dad had NPR on when he picked me up after school, and there was a broadcast about the technology fair in Las Vegas happening these next couple of days. The woman speaking was talking about one of the bigger gadgets to be featured: 3D TVs. At first I thought that sounded extremely cool, who doesn't like going to IMax theaters and seeing movies in 3D? I personally really enjoyed the Polar Express in 3D a couple years ago and I know 3D Avatar has been a big hit. Yet when I started thinking about it, the prospect of 3D TV kind of scared me. When you watch TV, you are able to leave your world for a little and for lack of a better word, "watch" an alternate world. But if this world was taking place 3D around you, it would be like you were actually a part of this other world.
To me, this new type of television watching would most likely raise the amount of time people spend watching TV, and limit the amount of time they are exposed to the real world. Why go to a football game if you can watch it on a huge screen with surround sound and 3D images? It's like you're right there. I personally do not spend a lot of time watching TV; I don't have time and I'd rather be out doing stuff in the real world. But will these new TVs have a negative impact on our society? How will our future be impacted by TVs that draw Americans out of the real world?
Yesterday, my dad had NPR on when he picked me up after school, and there was a broadcast about the technology fair in Las Vegas happening these next couple of days. The woman speaking was talking about one of the bigger gadgets to be featured: 3D TVs. At first I thought that sounded extremely cool, who doesn't like going to IMax theaters and seeing movies in 3D? I personally really enjoyed the Polar Express in 3D a couple years ago and I know 3D Avatar has been a big hit. Yet when I started thinking about it, the prospect of 3D TV kind of scared me. When you watch TV, you are able to leave your world for a little and for lack of a better word, "watch" an alternate world. But if this world was taking place 3D around you, it would be like you were actually a part of this other world.
To me, this new type of television watching would most likely raise the amount of time people spend watching TV, and limit the amount of time they are exposed to the real world. Why go to a football game if you can watch it on a huge screen with surround sound and 3D images? It's like you're right there. I personally do not spend a lot of time watching TV; I don't have time and I'd rather be out doing stuff in the real world. But will these new TVs have a negative impact on our society? How will our future be impacted by TVs that draw Americans out of the real world?
Wow this is really interesting! Personally, I don't think these new TV's will have a negative impact on our society. I feel as though people who already watch a lot of TV and do not spend much time doing anything else will be the only ones to buy into this. They would have an even better reason for staying on their couch, they could experience 3D images and think that they are in the real world, but they just would be hurting themselves. I enjoy experiencing things in real life than watching them on the TV and so do a lot of other people. I really don't see the appeal for these 3D TV's.
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree, I don't really see the appeal - 3D is fun to watch for a little but I wouldn't want to watch it all the time. Plus, you'd have to wear the glasses every time you wanted to watch TV.
ReplyDelete