"Television is teaching all the time. It does more educating than the schools and all the institutions of higher learning."--Marshal McLuhan (DeBoer).
The above quotation shows Marshal McLuhan’s belief that television is a form of media that is constantly educating children as well as adults. He believes that we learn more from television than we ever will in any form of schooling. This is a statement that I agree with. Whether we’re watching educational programs on stations such as Discovery Channel, the News which informs us of events taking place in surrounding areas, or reality TV, it is all educational in some form or another.
Programs aired on channels like discovery, show us other areas of the world, and teach us about all the different species, and different ways of life.
The news informs us of the daily happenings. It opens our eyes to the things taking place in our towns, cities, countries and our world.
Although we may not view reality TV as educational, we all learn something from it and it has an impact on our culture. Some may see these people acting out on TV as rude and obnoxious and these viewers learn that this is not the way they wish to live their lives. Others may view these people as ideal, and follow in their ways of living. Either way this has an impact on society and our culture.
Television has also impacted our culture in the sense that it forces us not only to rely on our ears and our hearing, but also on our eyes and our vision. As Marshal McLuhan would say, the television is an extension of the human eyes and ears. It allows us to see and hear the occurrences taking place in other parts of the world (The Playboy Interview: Marshal McLuhan).
Another way that television has affected our culture is by creating a sort of global village. Because of television, internet, the telephone, etcetera, people in all areas of the world are able to connect and communicate with one another. Television is a medium that has caused time and space to collapse in the sense that we can deliver a message, information, pictures and videos from one side of the world to the other in mere seconds. These messages and viewings of other lifestyles around the world affect our culture and the way we live (The Playboy Interview: Marshal McLuhan).
Works Cited
DeBoer, Ron. Ontario Media Literacy. September 2009. 4 October 2009 http://www.angelfire.com/ms/MediaLiteracy/index.html.
The Playboy Interview: Marshal McLuhan. March 1969. 4 October 2009 http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~gisle/links/mcluhan/pb.html.
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