The main propositions of the Cultivation Theory are as follows: the more time the viewer spends watching TV, the closer his world's perception to that of the reality shown on the screen.In 1968 Gerbner conducted a survey according to which he placed television viewers into three categories: light viewers (less than 2 hours a day), medium viewers (2–4 hours a day) and heavy viewers (more than 4 hours a day). He found that the beliefs and opinions of heavy viewers are similar to those which were portrayed on television. He also noted that the so-called heavy viewers in contrast to light viewers think that: the world is more violent and dangerous place, have skewed perceptions of society and have more convergent political views. According to results of the research study heavy viewer is more likely to think he or she has a higher chance of getting into violence, also heavy viewer is much more likely to be afraid of walking alone at night. Also people who overuse watching TV believe "that five percent of society is involved in law enforcement" (in reality - 1%). And finally, heavy television viewers are more mistrusting of people than light or medium television watchers. This view of the world is called the "mean world syndrome". From my personal experience I can say that I absolutely agree with the results and conclusions of this Theory. According to the film "Human Footprint" in average a person spends watching TV as much as 8 years of his life! I have also noticed that frequent TV watching affect psychological human's state. For example, so-called heavy television viewers are much more likely to fell shyness, loneliness and depression than those who spends less time at TV watching.
The more your attention is grabbed by television, the less you have your own thoughts, the less you have a mental activity. If you watch TV-series, talk-shows and commercials for a long time you won't produce much of your own thoughts. The main harm is caused by programmes and commercials in which the pictures change every 2-3 seconds or quicker. Watching such programs leads to development of attention deficit disorder. Millions of children suffer from such a mental disorder all over the world nowadays. Therefore, I am very concerned that the adolescents spend a lot of time in front of the TV. Of course television has it's advantages.
There are many channels that broadcast scientific programmes which are worth seeing. In addition, news also cannot cause any harm as a man stays informed about the situation in the world and his country. But it is important to remember that everything should have its own frames. You should not spend all your free time in front of the screen! Also if you are used to watch news programmes or read newspapers try to consider the information in all aspects. Look through the opposite opinion for the same issues, compare all the concepts. In such case it is possible to estimate more clearly a particular social phenomenon, to develop an integral vision of problems.
Works cited
“Cultivation Theory”. masscommtheory.com. Web. n.d. <http://masscommtheory.com/theory-overviews/cultivation-theory/>
