Reflection: 3

NEGATIVE EFFECTS ON TELEVISION

There have been many giant developments since the 1920s, the invention of television.At the beginning, the television has been excepted as a funny box which the families may spend their time together by watching it. But the goal of the use of television has changed day by day. It started to shape the way of life of the people all around the world. From time to time, new TV programs with different ideas and subject matters have been introduced. Gradually, people started to pay more attention to different TV programs as a matter of entertainment. In the same way, all these TV programs are affecting the life of Turkish people in different ways as well. Thus, the traditional Turkish family life is affected negatively in two ways because of the presence of television.

First of all, TV affects the communications among the family members in a bad way. Therefore, personal lives are shared less than before. Hence, not only talking the secrets but also talking about daily events are rare in these days. Instead of sharing feelings and ideas with each other, families are directly sitting in front of the TV. They are only talking about the plot of the programme such as the events of the series or talk shows that will take place in the next episode. On the other hand, outdoor activities are impaired which leads to less communication among the members of the family as well. People are not visiting each other as they did in the past and less family gatherings are being held for not missing their favourite shows. People like to stay at home instead of going out for cinema, theatre or concerts. They are just watching TV at home, leading to impairment of the family communications.

In addition to impairing communication, the traditional eating habits of the Turkish family is also damaged slowly due to the presence of TV. Especially, in recent times, there has been many changes in food choice. Due to the fast food advertisements, like Mc Donalds, Burger King or KFC , people tend to prefer eating fast foods instead of traditional food. Rather than eating ‘‘karnıyarık, mantı or yaprak sarma ‘’, they prefer to eat cheesburgers since the influence of advertisements.Also due to time and effort, it takes time to consume traditional food in order to watch TV in a more concentrated manner, people prefer to eat appetizers such as crisps and french fries . In addition to affecting the food choice, it can be said that there is no more traditional family gatherings around the table resulting from the presence of TV. Instead of sitting at the dinner table, people are watching their favourite shows. Thus, they are eating seperately. Sunday breakfasts are another issue which should be considered. Traditional sunday breakfasts turned into people having their breakfast in front of their televisions.

As a consequence, TV has a negative influence on the traditional Turkish family lifestyle. The traditions Turkish people once used to have changed because of the presence of television. It harms the relations and interactions between family members by changing their way of expressing ideas and eating habits among themselves. Although TV has been taken as a part of modern life, people should spend their time more effectively. We should think about this situation twice so that our traditions are not be lost. It shouldn’t be forgotten that a life without television is better than a country without tradition.