Every Episode is the Last Episode

Eric Bruce 

Freshman Composition 

23 March 2015 

Every Episode is the Last Episode 

The television in its creation and advertisement was meant to bring family together in one room, enjoying each others' company as well as the entertainment broadcasted through the screen. Unfortunately, it has done the opposite. The once strong interpersonal relationships that bonded families together have turned into fleeting weak connections. Parents no longer raise their children but put them in front of a screen for a couple hours so that they might get the alone time they want.  The thing about television is that it is timeless. No matter the decade or current events, it still has the same influence that it has had since its distribution in the early 1950s. 

Television has always been a source of low-effort thinking; a chance to distract yourself from the life around you and concentrate on an alternate universe full of witty comebacks, action packed car chases and intense love stories. This is as true now as it was true back when the first television sets were put into family homes. In Marie Winn's The Plug In Drug, there is an account of a Chicago woman who noticed the gradual change in her family's holidays together. She once recalled her family spending time together, talking and laughing while her and the rest of her cousins played all types of games. Then she suddenly notices how that had all changed, her family no longer spoke and  played games but rather sat in front of the television set watching the football game (5). This is just one of the few instances in which television influenced the way in which families interacted with each other. It is very likely that you can lose an entire day to television. So easy to sit back and lose track of both consciousness and time. To have your how day planned out and waste it after the fatal words, "I'll do it after this episode". Every episode is the last episode and when you actually finish the last episode, then what? The sun has set and the day is gone, only to be remember nostalgically as a day that could've been productive. What happened to the family bonding and closeness that was intended? The first advertisements to endorse televisions came with a picture of a family sitting together. This was to imply that family bonding occurs in front of the television, but in reality the quietest time a family can spend together is in front of a TV screen.  

Such quiet time in front of the television has been the cause of the deterioration of family intimacy. Families no longer talk as much or spend as much time together as they once did. Now is the case where each member of the family has their own television in their room so even the dead silence they shared as a family is now gone. Television is a method of avoiding the deep, underlying problems that plague every family. Winn explains what makes a family is not only the good times, but the arguments, and the differences in opinions. Without those family experiences the bond is not there and family becomes an idea, something that sounds nice on paper but does not translate into emotions. You cannot develop a bond if all a family talks about is the new episode of Scandal that came on the night before. Winn said it best when she said, "All that seems to be left is love, an abstraction that family members know is necessary but find great difficulty giving to each other since the traditional opportunities for expressing it within the family have been reduced or eliminated". Such weak bonds amongst family members has led to love being seen as accessible as the swipe of a credit card.  

Parents no longer spend their time with their kids, but instead buy their affection and put them in front of a television screen for hours at a time. Eric Schlosser describes the 1980s as "the decade of the child consumer"(1). Advertisements towards children began to increase ten-fold. With a way out of having to spend time with their kids, parents could now slack off on their responsibilities as their kids are raised by cartoon characters. An example of this would be the advertisement starring Joe Camel the cartoon character who endorsed cigarettes (1). A study that is mentioned in Kid Kustomers found that a third of illegal cigarettes sold to minors were Camels. This only further shows that a kid is susceptible to the world around them, unknowingly harming themselves just by watching too much television. A child has an impressionable mind and as such should be monitored in what they are viewing on a day-to-day basis. However, parents neglectfully raise their children only to notice something is wrong if the child acts out. Winn points out that adults only see a problem with children watching so much TV when it is manifested in their behavior and actions (2). But if there are no signs of trouble, television is seen as a positive influence. As parents continue to leave their children to be raised by TV shows, advertisement agencies seek to create what Schlosser calls "cradle-to-grave advertising strategies" (1). These companies see an opportunity to attack while the iron is hot. While the young are growing, they plan on pushing their products to the impressionable minds of the world so that they might nag their parents to purchase it for them and when they have children they can buy it for their kids. This is an endless cycle of hypnosis that only lines the pockets of companies. There are adults singlehandedly telling other adults how to raise their kids essentially. By putting children in front of a television screen and letting them watch endless hours of television, adults are allowing other adults to manipulate their way into the family home. Once a kid their hearts set on one thing, it is nearly impossible to get them to quit, the only way being to crush their spirits with the almighty no. Growing up on television, it is obvious to see the that its characters surely do have an influence on how you act in real life. I watched The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as a kid. That show was a positive influence as it taught me family values and the importance of doing the right thing. This came as a lesson in life as my mother worked to support us leaving me alone in the house as she went to work and my sister was in college. However it also fueled my desire to grasp at everything with an 800 telephone line attached to it whether it be a Chia pet or the Heelys. It is so attractive to the eye that kids that have became adults are glued to the screen along with their kids.  

Television has a strange way of depicting its own destructive ways. The downfall of family life that is seen all too often on television shows is only a direct mirror of how we act in real life. It is so typical and cliché. The working mom or pop believe they are doing all they can for their kids as their kids are being raised by the streets or the housemaid. As the growing kid rebels time after time it is only realized towards the end of the show or movie that all the kid wants is to bond with their parents and get to know them as something more than the authority figure or the financial aid in their lives. But no matter how it is depicted, do we even blink hard enough to actually realize what is happening? We are becoming the story plots to our own lives. We are fueling the advertisement companies and Hollywood with our negligence, our naiveté. We are wasting away human interaction and real world experience. We are letting a four cornered box with bright colors raise our youth. We are decimating the virtues of family life because we utter the words, "After this last episode". Will it ever change is something to be seen but as Winn and Schlosser have made clear is that television has families in the palm of their hands, and all they have to do is squeeze until the money comes out.