You Have The Control

You Have the Control

The two essays, “TV Addiction” and “Why Schools Don’t Educate” attract my attention because they each have themes that are common in our daily lives. Both of the essays share the same idea of technology and how this invention has become part of our daily routines. One of the essays makes an important point on how the TV has become a perilous habit to our families, society, and community; about how important it is for us to know what the next program will be: the news, cartoons, a movie, a weekly sit-com, or simply a soap opera. While some benefit can be had by some of these offerings, most can be disposed of in lieu of other activities that actually benefit us mentally and physically. The point made by these two authors is that we need to eliminate crutches that stop us from becoming complete and honorable people. Anything can be addictive; we need to be able to control these addictions. What is in your life that you cannot give up-TV? Radio? Books? Cell phones? Most of these, especially when used in excess, can be very detrimental to communication and one’s development into a well-rounded person. A problem we might have is identifying what an excess use means. Most of these things we use from modern technology can be beneficial; it is when we use them in excess that they can pose a danger to our progress as human beings. We have the potential to become a non-functioning society as things appear right now; let us identify the problems associated with our non-learning, non-caring attitude now before it is too late and we find we have destroyed the things that we need to make us begin the journey back to reality.

The author in “TV Addiction” explains the use of the term “addiction”. It is always related to a pleasure: addicted to soda, addicted to exercise, addicted to buying clothes, etc. We can say that each of these addictions is related with the TV type idea. We have been affected throughout this media of communication; it has become a media that controls people. The matter of the fact is that all this information that the TV promotes is manipulated with the purpose of selling or the rating of TV programs. It appears in the author’s point of view that the majority of people live their lives according to the media. He is persuasive in his argument that we are so connected to the media that we are no longer free-thinkers with our own opinions. Our opinions seem to be based on this outside source of information regarding what we view and do on a daily basis.

In ‘Why Schools Don’t Educate” the author explains how TV has taken an important position in children’s development, and not necessarily in a positive way. The author has been a school teacher for 25 years and in his experience he explains how many hours each week a child has and what these hours are allotted to. There just are not enough hours in the week for children to learn to grow and become functioning adults with opinions, feelings, and abilities needed in the real world. Out of 168 hours in a week, his children sleep fifty-six, they need 112 hours a week to fashion a self. If his children watch fifty-five hours of television a week, they have fifty-seven hours in which to grow up. If attending school uses thirty hours a week, they have eight hours of getting ready, traveling to and from school, and another seven hours to do homework. This does not allow for any private time, private space, or to develop any individuality. Children are almost constantly monitored by parents or teachers. That leaves a little time to eat, which is usually not together as a family because of time constraints. (Gatto 612). In Mr. Gatto’s viewpoint, most of the time that could be used for better development mentally and personality-wise is time that is wasted on superfluous endeavors.

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