Children of the Screen

“Children of the Screen”, it sounds like something ominous straight out of a horror movie and yet it is being used to describe multiple generations of both young and old people including my own generation. For most of us the age of information has been thrust upon us since birth and it was inevitable that we would fall into this destructive pattern. All around the world children from an early age are being taught life lessons through the television set and this is luring them into a false sense of ease when it comes to watching television. While TV can teach children important skills, it also stifles their creativity and becomes an easy out for when they are tired or bored. Once these traits are learned it is hard for most people to deviate from them in their adult lives.
A dim glow on the subject of television is that is it an effective means of communicating to the mass population. Most of us were not lucky enough to be invited to President Obama’s inauguration; however, thanks to the TV screen we were allowed to watch and listen to the proceedings. Almost directly after the inauguration I was extremely disappointed to hear a preview of the news for the next day that said, “tune in tomorrow as we reveal Michelle Obama’s dress size.” Are we really that pathetic of a society that the First Lady’s dress size makes bigger news than the war in Iraq or the current state of the economy? Are we so dissatisfied with ourselves that we prefer to hear about Brittney Spears’s latest divorce over the situation in Darfur?
The realist inside of me knows that I am somewhat a “child of the screen” simply because I am just like the millions of Americans who religiously watch The Office on Thursday nights but the key to coexisting happily with this mind numbing influence is simple. Like everything else in life both good and not so good, there needs to be moderation and balance, and we as a society have not found that yet.
I truly believe that our society is adapting to a screen-based environment. Have you ever noticed that in most restaurants there are multiple television sets? Almost everywhere we go the screen follows us and majority of the time those images we are saturated with are less than wholesome. The screen is not the sole cause of society’s problems but I do feel like there is a direct link between them. As more and more shows depict violence, language, sexuality, and nudity our society seems to inch its way further from traditional morals.
The portrait that accompanies Hannah Baylon’s essay, Children of the Screen, is a startling portrayal of a child bound to the television. The child’s eyes are wide and she cannot speak. All the child can do is listen and absorb the information being flashed over the screen. It is uncomfortable to look at but at the same time it is an excellent representation of our society as a whole. We need to be more aware of what we are allowing into our minds and if we are not careful we might just evolve so much that we can never go back.