There's nothing on TV!

I woke up this morning at 6:30. A FRIDAY morning at 6:30…think about it...we’re at Babson College where there are practically no Friday classes. So why in the world would I do such a thing? Especially since I went to bed at 2:00am after celebrating the success of performance one of three of Babson Dance Ensemble’s fall show. (BDE presents We Like to Party! December 4th, 5th, &6th 8pm @ Sorenson). Well, I had to wake up this morning to give a presentation for MCE. UGGGHHH. It was awful. Well actually, the presentation went well, it was just awful to wake up. So of course after the presentation I decided to take a nap. However, when I got back to my room…it not only felt oddly quiet, but the luminescent room light was hurting my eyes. So, being that it was neither dark enough to feel like night time, I turned on the T.V. and tried to drift off with it as background noise/light. Well, I couldn’t fall asleep before finding the right channel to leave it on. And that’s when I realized (well maybe I’ve known it before, but this morning I really was just angry about it) that there is NOTHING on tv at 10:30 in the morning. And by nothing, I guess I mean “nothing to my liking.” Which reminded me of the presentation “Sleaze TV” that was discussed in my media and culture class. This presentation discussed the different types of TV content that is out there, dividing it into high and low cultured. One of their major points was that content is chosen to cater towards income stereotypes and how low-culture TV like Jerry Springer provides entertainment that is not intelligent. Well, I couldn’t help but feel that this was true.

So while I was browsing and getting sick of there being nothing on TV, I asked myself, why do I even want this on? Why can’t I turn it off? Why do I need the television to be on to fall asleep? And while I kept responding to myself saying, “I don’t need this on, just turn it off Jes, there’s nothing interesting to watch” I kept the tv on. I just turned it to a channel that I thought might have an interesting show on when I woke up (MTV). Well, while I was trying to drift off, Parental Control came on and I got sucked into watching it. You see, I’ve been trying to figure out why people watch these “reality shows” when it’s obvious that the lines are scripted and the “real people” are acting. Specifically for this show, I couldn’t understand how if someone was actually in a “deep and meaningful” relationship with another person they could potentially break up with that person over television. No talking it out, no compromise, just an ultimatum. What does this type of show reflect about the way relationships have evolved over the years? This course has opened my eyes to the way media saturation has seeped into our culture by teaching us values that deter from traditional ways. While progress/moving forward is not necessarily a bad thing, at some point, we need to stop and think, well wait, is this really progress? Microeconomics has taught me that for an efficiency curve, at some point, no more economies of scale can be achieved and production levels become inefficient. I think this concept can definitely be applied to technology and the media saturation world we live in today. In addition, my organizational behavior class taught me about running businesses with an ethical standpoint. The concept of utilitarianism (which pretty much asks if the ends justify the means) seems to be an important theory that many conglomerates/corporations may not have in mind. Will gaining as much profit as possible justify the (harmful) cultural influences that advertising/tv shows/the media torrent has on society? I really do not see the justification unless the companies are giving back to society in some way (which I don’t think they are).