Television is dangerous because it destroys family life and any sense of community; instead of visiting people or talking with our family we just watch television. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

More and more people are resorting to sedentary pastimes and the most common of them all is watching Television. Sitting before the television to while away your time is fatal to healthy family life and relationships, both at home and in the neighbourhood.

This

essay will argue that the 'Idiot box' and the programming on it, is indeed highly disruptive to the fabrics of family and community. In the

first

instance, a family is defined as a close-knit group of people bound by blood or intimate relationships which are propagated by selfless acts of kindness and sacrifice. Television entered

this

equation of relationships around the 60s. The content of the programmes,

for example

, even today, includes news, shows, series, live or recorded sports events and movies, which were meant to absorb the attention of every member of a household at different times of the day. Contentions and competition for access to it between members of the household became the order of the day and self-sacrifice and work ethic flew out of the window. Homes cannot maintain their integrity in a competitive and quarrelsome environment, which has lead to high rates of divorce and broken homes ever since.

Hence

the family has continued to suffer attacks from

this

ubiquitous machine, now more so than ever, because both the device and the content are more sophisticated than before.

Secondly

, doing things together in the community, making friends and organising weekend games and parties have become a thing of the past. People have begun to prefer watching TV to unwind, rather than stepping out for an evening with friends from their neighbourhood.

For instance

, weekend sports telecasts or binge-watching shows or movies on the idiot box is more absorbing than meeting together at the local meeting hall for a game of chess or carrom or cards or badminton. The isolation has destroyed the sense of community to

such

an extent that very few folks even know their neighbours.

As a result

, crime in the suburbs is on the rise and witnesses to apprehend culprits are hard to come by because most of them are glued to their couches with their eyes fixed on a screen. TV has

thus

eroded all semblance of unity in society. In conclusion, while leisure activities are of supreme importance for bonding between members of a household and for making a neighbourhood a safe place to live in, making TV a preferred way of entertaining oneself is a selfish choice that individuals are making. The argument presented in

this

essay has clearly set out the dangers of

this

choice to both intimate ties and friendships outside the home circle. In my opinion, individuals should become perceptive of the risks that they are taking and consciously choose to move away from virtual pastimes to real ones.