Television is a major component of our consumption habits and a defining issue of today. The average American watches 4 hours of television per day, making television the most consumed product on the market. It has the power to influence our perceptions for the better or the worse due to the constant bombardment of information it presents to us.
“The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
In the industrial era, manufactured products needed to have mass appeal. Consequentially, television programming operated on the same model of mass appeal by taking advantage of basic human psychology. The actors and news anchors within a television program are beyond your everyday normal levels of attractiveness appealing to our need to associate with attractive people. How many times have you stated you'd bang this celebrity or that singer? Not a coincidence. The programs also appeal heavily to the full spectrum of human emotion. Due to these two reasons, television programming is often more interesting than our mundane everyday existence. It can even be considered contagious the way consumers will pass on knowledge of the latest and greatest television shows to their friends.
As these shows aim to provide maximum entertainment, consumer’s perception is slowly modelled to believe that somewhere on earth, life is more exciting than our own life and this can create the basis of a pervasive anxiety when people are away from their television sets. They may compare their reality to the reality they witness on television and realize they are not among people of the same attractiveness or doing exciting things that they witnessed on television. This is all a part of cultivation theory. Cultivation theory states that the realities portrayed on television begin to change consumer perceptions of reality in order to correspond more with the realities seen on television. Many studies support cultivation theory, however it is important to note that there may be other causal factors at play as well. Studies supporting cultivation theory have shown:
· Greater perceptions of the prevalence of violence
· Greater perceived danger
· Greater fear and anxiety
· Less interpersonal trust
· Greater perception of divorce prevalence
· Greater perceptions of expensive product ownership
These changes in perception open up the doors for third party exploitation in the interest of profiteering or even advancing political agendas.
In order to become like those extremely interesting and attractive people on television, we buy products and services that represent that person or imbue their personality. Corporations utilize television advertising to take advantage of this subtle anxiety and transform it into revenue. Those who watch television begin to slowly become what they consume. That somehow these products they purchase create a sense of status that differentiates them from the rest of the masses. Yet these advertisements are viewed by the masses and these products are manufactured for the masses, but somehow the television imbues a power in these products that doesn’t actually exist. You are now more attractive and more interesting because of the identity you have taken on.
Now imagine all the experiences that were never lived, the genius that never was or the song never realized. As reality becomes more dull and tedious in contrast to ever more stimulating television programs which now have CGI and larger budgets, we can expect more people choosing to immerse themselves in television. Alternatively, as people choose to unplug their consciousness from the television set and begin to mindfully choose the content you wish to consume, your perception of reality will change accordingly.
You are what you eat.
References
Shrum, L. J., Robert S. Wyer, Jr., and Thomas C. O'Guinn. "The Effects of Television Consumptions on Social Perception." Journal of Consumer Research (1998). Web. 13 June 2014.
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