TELEVISION - ITS ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

By itself no tool, instrument or invention is good or bad. It is the way we use it that makes it good or bad.

So is the case with television. Television is the most wonderful invention capable of bringing the whole world of entertainment and education to our door. It is the most powerful means of mass communication, capable of revolutionizing man's life. Since TV programmes appeal to our eyes as well as our ears, they have an irresistible charm.

If, as is the case in India at present, the TV is used mostly as a means of entertainment, information and advertisement, TV programmes are likely to be more harmful than useful. Uneducated people and children remain glued to their seats for hours on end to watch the TV. They become V-addicts. They thus spoil their eyes and their health. They prefer passive entertainment and lose the capacity to enjoy simple, innocent pleasures of life. They cannot enjoy or appreciate natural beauty. Excessive violence shown in the TV films blunts people's sensitivity to suffering and violence around them. The TV thus becomes a curse for mankind.

But the TV can be used for good purposes like education along with healthy entertainment. Just as a doctor gives sugar-coated pills to his patients, people can be educated through well-prepared and well-presented entertainment programmes. The TV can be used to teach people how to read and write, to teach farmers better methods of cultivation, to teach professional people to improve their professional efficiency, to teach people useful arts and crafts, to provide them useful information about what is happening in other parts of the world and to familiarize them with the latest discoveries, inventions and innovations in different branches of knowledge. TV programmes can also be used to cultivate good tastes and develop healthy interests, to teach people how to appreciate good things of life, to make them aware of their social responsibilities and to arouse people's interests and enthusiasm in the tasks of national development. TV programmes can reach millions of people in their homes. They can be watched by people at their convenient time if they are prepared in the form of video films. In this respect learning through TV is better than learning in schools and colleges.

In short, if TV programmes are planned to make people better citizens and better human beings, TV then will be a great blessing for mankind.