There is no doubt that the advent of television reduced our time for talking with family or friends in person. When we think communication in a broader way, however, TV did not destroyed it. Instead, it actually helps by showing us visually where friends lives in and providing us theme for small talk.
First of all, television help us communicate by making us catch up with the news of the town our family or friends live in. TV shows fast and reliable news vividly. Before I get the phone call from my family, I could watch what happened to them. For example, I could call my boy friend who lives in Seoul when it first snowed last winter while I live in another city. I just turned on TV and heard that it was snowing in Seoul by chance. He was surprised and so happy to get my voice when it started to snow. Even though we stayed apart, we could feel like we were together. In this way, TV is beneficial for our communication.
Furthermore, many entertainment of TV give us common matters to share. If we do not have many things to talk, communication cannot be enjoyable. When I came back to Korea from U. S, it was hard to talk with my friends because I did not know what they were talking about. My friends did ask me how my study was, but that was just part of conversation. We need to narrow down our interest to common things. We used to talk about fashion of celebrities, story of soap operas, but I lost stuff to talk just because I did not watch Korean TV show while they watch it. If one does not watch TV when everyone in the world watch TV, it is easy to fail to communicate with other because s/he lose the common background people share.
In summary, the statement that Television has destroyed communication among friends and family is non-sense when we consider TV is one of the most important tool for communication. Television shows us what happens to our friends or family who live apart from us and provides tons of things to talk about such as fun stories of soap operas. We can blame us when we abuse it, but we cannot blame it for our unconcern.
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