TV—Bane or Boon?
A “BOON” has been defined as “a benefit enjoyed; a thing to be thankful for; a blessing.” A “bane” is “a thing that ruins or spoils; a deadly poison.” In the light of our brief review of just a few aspects of the question, can television be considered a bane or a boon, a curse or a blessing?
TV Can Be a Boon
There can be little doubt that many persons consider TV to be a boon. A great number of elderly, sick or handicapped people would not be without it. TV has become their main source of “company” and companionship.
Few people would deny that television has done much to arouse interest in the news, in what is going on locally and worldwide. It has broadened people’s minds and opened up new horizons for them. Televiewers are less inclined to have a “parochial outlook.” This is all to the good and something to be thankful for.
Television can also be very educational, bringing a wide range of knowledge to people who have never had the opportunity to study or travel. Finally TV has brought shows, operas, plays, ballets and symphony orchestras into the homes of the poor.
TV Can Also Be a Bane
Unfortunately, what could be a boon can turn out to be a bane, something harmful and even poisonous. TV may be “company” for the lonely, but what kind of company? It may have filled a gap in the empty lives of many people, but with what has it filled their lives? TV may bring us on-the-spot immediate news coverage, but it can also channel insidious propaganda and be used by selfish men to indoctrinate people. TV may amuse us with its cute ads, but it has done much to create a materialistic society. You may find that television provides you with cheap entertainment, but are you sure that it has not warped your views on sex, violence and honesty? You may rely heavily on TV to keep your children out of mischief, but what mischief is it doing to their minds and, far more importantly, to their hearts?
Vladimir K. Zworykin, often called “the father of modern television,” recently stated that ‘he never expected TV to become such a pervasive force worldwide.’ He added, however, that he was unhappy about how TV is being used, and that he would never let his children even come close to a TV set. Top-ranking TV playwright Paddy Chayefsky observed: “Television coarsens all the complexities of human relationships, brutalizes them, makes them insensitive. We’ve lost our sense of shock, our sense of humanity. That is the basic problem of television.”
These statements, by men who should know, provide food for thought for anyone who has his family’s and his own interests at heart. Yes, the “box” can be a bane or a boon. In the final analysis, what television can do FOR you and TO you . . . depends on you!