Digital television has proved to be one of the best things created since sliced bread. Before digital television, we had an analog television, which was based on a broadcast to audience format which had certain limitations to its audience. We were only able to watch channels/shows at designated times. Over the past twenty years’ digital television came along and that has changed how we view TV and how we interact. Now, we can watch TV on different mechanisms like our cell phones, tablets and even gaming systems like X-Box and Play Station. Gone are the days when you can only go on the internet on your desktop computer. We can now go on the internet and go to sites directly like YouTube right through our Smart TV with two clicks of the remote. I would believe most folks are grateful for the change in television.
Previously, the audience didn’t really have a choice. We used to view television through the TV and the TV alone. Now we can watch digital TV on our cellphone, through our computers, and on streaming services. Even though cable television was out in the 70’s it still was in an analog format and all we could do was watch a couple of channels and turn the channels. With digital TV, we can do so many things. For one with digital TV, we have more say on how we want to watch TV and when. Now, there are streaming shows like Netflix and Hulu in which we can “binge” watch shows and seasons at our leisure! I would have never thought that this could happen to be that I’m an 80’s kid. Cable was huge back then but years later with increased technology cable’s television reign would slowly come to an end. A study on PC World stated that streaming services would soon take over. The article online stated, “While cable still dominates the living room, the development of services like Hulu and Boxee make it clear that cable’s lock on the American living room is about to get rocked in a very big way.” (Ian Paul, June 2009)
Reality television has certainly taken over the world of television. In my opinion reality television is a joke just like a lot of the videos on YouTube. In the reading, Smart We Live, Hart stated, “YouTube turned mundane daily life into public spectacle.” (Hart Pg. 1) This type of behavior and bad acting has taken over so much that in my opinion there are more reality television shows than regular scripted shows. Back in the days, I believe one of the first reality shows was The Real World and that was in the early 2000’s. At that time, there were only a few like American Idol and then bam! A wave and a continuous wave of reality shows flooded our televisions every night. I’m surprised that standard scripted shows still exist today in 2018. Reality TV has changed the way in which we understand human communication. One reason is that since reality shows are supposed to be “real” a lot of times people try and imitate what they think is real on a reality show. A lot of times this can bad. For example, the reality show Love and Hip Hop feature a storyline of two women in love with the same man and one woman is married to the guy but the one who isn’t still dealing with him because she had him first. A friend of mine told me that she is doing the same thing because she said, “this is real and helpful.” So now she treats her man the same way as the character and her relationship suffers. Unfortunately, she is one of the few who doesn’t believe that reality television isn’t real. People must be careful watching these shows because some of the bad behavior can spill into their own lives and wreak havoc.
