The future of the television is becoming quite blurry
The two main functions of television are to educate and entertain. People tune in to various shows to seek information of a current or past event and to watch something that is simply entertaining. What many do not know is that the TV became a mass medium much faster than film, music and the radio. The reasons for its popularity are as follows. First, unlike radio and music, the television has sound and visual components. Second, the television is more convenient than going to see or purchase a movie. Almost everyone has access and can watch from the comfort of their own homes. Third, watching TV has become a daily routine that any age group can participate in. Lastly, the TV also provides people with live coverage of stories. Many can get a true sense of an event by listening and watching a story, even if an event its far away.
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| Watching television has been a daily routine for many families |
The two main functions of television are to educate and entertain. People tune in to various shows to seek information of a current or past event and to watch something that is simply entertaining. What many do not know is that the TV became a mass medium much faster than film, music and the radio. The reasons for its popularity are as follows. First, unlike radio and music, the television has sound and visual components. Second, the television is more convenient than going to see or purchase a movie. Almost everyone has access and can watch from the comfort of their own homes. Third, watching TV has become a daily routine that any age group can participate in. Lastly, the TV also provides people with live coverage of stories. Many can get a true sense of an event by listening and watching a story, even if an event its far away.
The changing demographic of TV viewers
It is clear that the television has so much to offer. The things that are listed above have all contributed to the success of the television. However, it is unclear whether or not the popularity of this device will last. According to the Pew study, television watching is more common for older adults. The younger demographic finds the Internet to be so appealing, which then draws them away from the TV.
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Computers allow all people access to a wide
variety of options. The Internet offers all that the TV does and more. People can still access educational and
entertaining information on the Internet at anytime, but there seems to be a
larger selection. Another appealing
feature is the ability to pause and revisit a program. It can be quite frustrating when
someone misses a show on television because it is hard to catch it at another
time. Due to this change in
interest among the newer generations and the expansion of technology, I see a
negative change in the importance of television in the near future.
Lindsey did a great job of defining the general main functions of television and then went into specific detail of how people are starting to shy away from television and work their way to the Internet. This method is effective because it makes sure the reader is given a background on the subject before any statistics or concepts are thrown at them. To further discuss the topic of online TV usage, the number of Netflix streaming subscribers was said to have been at 23 million last year and is increasing. The advantage of Netflix is that a user isn’t restricted to using their computer or TV to watch it. Several users utilize mobile game consoles, or their cell phones to access the online movie/TV-streaming site. 50 percent of users were said to stream the content on their video game console. Another site that is popular to stream shows on is Hulu. This site isn’t as popular as Netflix, but it still came in at 1.5 million subscribers in 2012. According to statistic brain, 73 percent of people who watch Hulu use it to watch television shows.
ReplyDeleteSources: http://www.statisticbrain.com/hulu-statistics/
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