Television and addiction
Crack and the Box, Pete Hamill What are Hamill’s beliefs about the lessons television teaches? What are your views of his ideas about TV and the origins of addiction? In the essay “Crack and the Box”, Hamill tries to make a correlation between the rampant drug problem in our society and television. Hamill believes that television is addictive in the same way that drugs are addictive. ... Television teaches us to feel happy when we are sad, excited when we’re bored and even feel sober when we’re intoxicated. ... In short, Hamill believes television teaches it’s viewers that drugs are the easy way out of an otherwise cruel world. ... I cook, study, and clean the house while the television is on. ... I think Hamill’s comparison of the similarities between the effects of drugs and the effects of television are too generic. Drugs are a destructive all consuming vise, to which television cannot compare. ... When you divide the seven hours between three people it’s really only two and a half hours of television viewing for each person. ... Their television viewing is monitored. ... The following is their television viewing routine. ... There are television shows that I love. ... If given the choice between giving up television or giving up their fathers, which would they choose? ... I have experienced many positive effects from watching television. ... That is, until I began watching medical, forensic, and criminal justice programs on television. ... Television has broadened my appetite for reading and learning.