Television is the defining medium of our culture. Television is still probably most powerful form of communication on Earth and it is one of the greatest life-wasters of the modern age. Watching television is probably the most common hobby there is. Statistics state that there is a television is turned on an average of 6 to 8 hours per day in many households.

Television was first demonstrated publicly in January of 1926 by its inventor, John Logie Baird who had originally applied for a patent for his mechanical television in 1923. It took several years before this new fangled device could give radio a run for its money but now television is a part of our lives forever. Some say television is dying and will be replaced by the Internet. I believe television is embracing the Internet and will profit from it. Already television shows that get people to sent text messages or call in their votes are showing how television shows can be interactive. TiVo and other devices that merge computers with television are leading the way to a future TV with interactive web features.

But, is television good for you?

Television is neither good nor bad on its own even though there are many that believe the programming is too violent. Others see television as just an entertainment venue. Today television is increasingly prominent in children’s lives. Should parents worry about what it is doing to their children? Next to parents, television is among a child’s most influential teachers. There is no doubt though that there are many series and boxed DVD sets of these television series that are perceived as just entertainment. But any show that has a “moral” or lesson to the story is a form of propaganda. Whether that propaganda is good or bad depends on the message and who’s side you are on.

Television is an advertising and marketing medium and once advertisers learned that they could hide their products in content of the entertainment, they started doing just that. Examples from movies include “E.T.”, when the Mars candy bar company decided to advertise Reese’s Pieces instead of M&Ms. The script was changed to accommodate a different advertising message. The new “Transformers” movie used vehicles the sponsors were selling instead of the vehicles that were used in the original cartoon series. The television cartoon show “He Man” was nothing but a 30 minute animated commercial for Mattel toys. The show was constantly introducing new characters and new vehicles and gear to match the creation of the toys. Now that you can rent the cartoons on DVD there is a whole new use for marketing to our children and the company doesn’t have to pay for TV ads.

Television show propaganda is not limited to a modern phenomenon. Gene Roddenberry’s famous television series “Star Trek” was all about trying to promote a specific political message. Perhaps television can bring us together as a society. Take for instance the phenomenon that is “American Idol.” I’ve never watched the show myself but I can’t go a whole week at work without hearing about it.

Television is good, but addiction to TV is bad.  Television viewing is addictive and kicking the habit of “turning on the tube” for no other reason than because it is there is very hard to do. For many adult Americans, prime-time television is the only “continuing education” available to learn to cope with contemporary crises. One of the drawbacks of watching too much television can be the loss of friends but on the other hand, there is always the idea that we can at least talk about what happened on “American Idol” the next day.

Television is being forced to evolve by broadband, as television did to radio when it become a part of the media landscape. But if watching it is going to change in the next couple of years, it will be in the form of more interactive and more communal type settings.