EOTO #1: Television

 The Television is one of the most revolutionary items that came about in the United States. It helped bring together the country in times of grief and patriotism. The television started in the United States in 1927 by a man named Philo Taylor Farnsworth. He started his experiment while he was in high school. His invention scanned images with beams of electrons and is considered the direct ancestor of modern television. 

There were not many things to watch on the television at first. You couldn't change the channel and see different shows like you can today. On every TV the same thing would be playing for everyone to watch. This helped bring the country together to be informed on the news and watch the same entertainment. The channels would not run all night like they do now. They would end at the same time every night and the screen would go grey. The primary source of news and entertainment was the television. 

The biggest turning point in television history is the 1960 election between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. This event showed how television changed politics. Those who listened to the radio sided with Nixon and those who watched television sided with Kennedy. The percentage in voting for women increased during this election because many of the women watched the television and saw how handsome Kennedy looked. This motivated them to vote for Kennedy. With the television as a political tool, the image of the president became just as important as their political skills. Following this, Kennedy's assassination was the very first time a president had gotten killed on television. This tragic event united the country in sadness and grief. 

As the television's technology grew, the media industry also grew. This helped form the entertainment industry today. Television is no longer the primary source of news and entertainment. Now, there are smart phones, computers, and other ways to get the news and entertainment. People's attention span is on more than one source such as Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, Instagram, TikTok, and many others. No one sits with their family and watches the news or a tv show together. Because of this, people are uninformed about elections, politics, and news that is happening. They blindly go into elections to vote for candidates or they do not vote at all. 

There are many negative effects to this piece of technology. People have gotten into the habit of binging. They will binge watch shows for hours on end without seeing the light of day, face to face interactions, or physical movement. These three things led people to have a low self esteem, negative mental health, and weight problems from binge eating. Our society losing our social aspect of communication because of so many eyes stuck on the tv. People do not know how to physically interact with one another because of the many hours spent on the screen. Unfortunately, this is a problem that will not be solved because the technology is so advanced, it is used as apart of every day life.