TV watching has become a weekly ritual in many families and they often do this after dinner. After we clear the table and do the dishes; everyone would gather on the couch and watch the favourite primetime TV show. However, TV isn’t without its own set of problems. We can be incredibly annoyed with commercials, although their existence is necessary to ensure the sustainability of these TV stations. It means that we may want to watch TV shows without constant interruptions. Even without cable and satellite TV connections, we could still be able to obtain more than a dozen of free TV broadcasts by using standard antennas.
Some of these TV stations provide great programs for children and their shows could become the staple of our family entertainment. However, parents will need to deal with TV shows that can be potentially difficult to counteract. It has become quite noticeable that latest TV series and programs have more violence and sexual content, in terms of quantity and intensity. It is not possible to prevent children from turning on the TV and tune to stations that show these scenes. Parents may think that no serious harm was done, but children could be silently affected with what they see. Many of these children won’t directly turn into bad persons, but there will be definite changes in the way they think, behave and talk.
TV commercials have their own sets of problems themselves. In this highly competitive market, sellers will need to use highly straightforward and obvious methods. Their final goal is to make us purchase their products, by convincing us that their products are very beneficial to our problems. Today, mainstream marketing in TV industry is no longer based on simple pictures and sounds. Marketers are using psychological triggers and other tricks to improve the effectiveness of their marketing messages. It is intended to boost desire and the sense of urgency. As a result, many people are encouraged to buy specific products, even if they don’t need them. Children are especially vulnerable and they could become enthralled by commercials that show latest meal deals and toys.
It doesn’t mean that we need to avoid TV entirely and there are still many good TV shows that the family can watch. However, there are times when the whole family has sit on the couch, but there are no appropriate things to watch. In this case, optical media, such as Blu-Ray and standard DVD, can provide alternative source of entertainment for the whole family. Parents can find many old films in discount bins that are available for $1 each. Alternatively, parents can download children-friendly content from YouTube and transfer it to optical media. There are multiple free online services that can directly copy YouTube videos into our hard drive.
There are so many options out there that we may actually abandon TV stations for optical media. We will be able to control the kind of content that we want to watch. We will be able to control our time, so the whole family doesn’t need to be in hurry to finish their dinner and do the dishes. It is also not necessary to deal with the countless TV commercials that can be potentially troublesome for our family.