We live with screens.
We learn from them. We are entertained on them. We connect with friends and family on them. We conduct business on them. According to Nielsen Company (July 12, 2017) the average person spends nearly 11 hours per day in front of a screen. That’s up from 10 hrs. 29 minutes in 2016. That much time with anything is going to change us.
The question is how? Does it matter?
I have addressed those questions in my college media classes for more than 30 years. The screens have changed, the questions remain. They ask how sex and violence in media affect our children, the role of pornography and video games, and how media influence how we see ourselves and the world.
These were serious concerns when our screens were limited to a specific time or location. Now that media are digital and mobile, their impact is magnified and inescapable. Media content changes our expectations, our relationships and even how our brains function. Movies, TV shows and video games provide the mythology of today. Like any mythology, these modern narratives tell us what our society deems important, what it considers right and what is wrong (if anything) and who we are in it.
My Communication Theory, Media Writing, and Media Criticism courses at UNA explore these topics, and we have some interesting discussions —-especially after a big news story or significant event. Often when that happens, I’ll get emails from former students saying, “I wish I could have been in your class today, Dr. Mc…”
I’m writing this blog, not to lecture online, but to open the discussion. Former Federal Communications Commissioner Mark Fowler said that TV was just another appliance, implying that it had no more effect than a “toaster with pictures.” While we may see our media devices as just another useful tool, his statement is no more true now than it was in 1983. We can’t treat our screens as just an another appliance. If we do, we’ll risk ignorance, altered relationships, and manipulation we’d never have chosen had we been thinking clearly.
I don’t presume to have all the answers, but I do know we don’t get the answers if we don’t ask the questions.
Sources:
Howard, Jacqueline (2016). “Americans devote more than 10 hours a day to screen time, and growing.” CNN.com 12:48 PM, ET 6-30-2016. http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/30/health/americans-screen-time-nielsen/
The Nielsen Company (2017) “The Nielsen Total Audience Report: Q1 2017” http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/reports-downloads/2017-reports/total-audience-report-q1-2017.pdf