The impact of television on people is so great that mass media became called “the fourth power”. This means takes the power over the souls of people away, decides how to live on the Earth and in what to believe.
People forgot to communicate and rejoice each other. The people in the world were talented and creative from the times immemorial. They sang, danced, read much, and improved themselves. Television has destroyed the creative potential of people since the childhood, suppressed the human talents.
Scientists have counted up that the modern city dweller spends on average three hours per day in front of TV which makes up more than 1000 hours per year. Thus, it does not matter what to watch; TV serves as a background, distracting from own not always cheerful thoughts. What is the impact of such dependence?
TV causes psychological dependence. People have certain non-realized desires and aspirations. The bright pictures on the screen allow abstracting from these daily cares, having plunged into the world of gay colors, bright relations, exclusive success of heroes, and so on. Gradually people start to look for the consolation in embraces of the screen images. The need for watching TV becomes constant. Thus, there is a decrease of the critical attitude to what we see on the screen. (Gantz: 2001).
The children’s TV addiction is especially sore point. At first, parents encourage their children to torment the remote control, but then complain that they do not want anything except a flickering screen. Any attempts to feed children while TV is turned on can lead to the dietary habits disorder. The matter is that bright moving pictures distract children; therefore, they can eat more or less than usually. When it becomes a habit, there are the problems with a mode, weight and communication.
There is a vivid example for comparison: the majority of adult people abuse alcohol, but only comparatively small part of this number has a painful taste for it. If television does not define your life and daily routine, it will not bring any harm.
A TV set has taken an improper place in our house. Being a modest news media, it monopolized and unified our spiritual life. Television does not unite; on the contrary, it separates the family members, depriving them of communication. Everyone is captivated by a blue screen.
According to the doctrine of Holy Fathers, each person is a small world. Each person is a unique individuality. Television unifies, depersonalizes people. Ancient philosophers said: “People are what they eat”, meaning, certainly, not material, but spiritual food - what they read, whom they communicate with, what they strive for. (Gantz: 2001).
Television teaches people to be cruel, it concerns not only the movies of murders and violence, surrounded by worship and heroism atmosphere, but it concerns not less awful: people’s TV anxieties are so intensive and sharp that they emotionally devastate people, and they becomes indifferent, cold and aloof in everyday life. Television alienates people living in the same house, in one family from …