Television. Perhaps as no other medium in the history of humankind, television became such an integral part of the human condition during the latter part of the 20th century that no one today can likely imagine what life would truly be like without it. Television has certainly had a major impact on American society (Chalkey, 1993). Although many children and adults are spending more time on the computer than watching television in the 21st century, people could not get enough of the medium in the 20th century. Television became enormously popular and served as a unifying cultural force, a ubiquitous purveyor of goods and services, and the "boob tube" has transformed the human condition in America ever since. According to Marilou M. Johnson (2001), "Television programming has the power to inform, to guide, to persuade and to cause audience members to react with a variety of emotions. This power is...
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