I want my TV

ENTERTAINMENT: Many of us feel guilty about watching TV, believing it is a passive medium that makes us lazy. Or that it’s bad for society, because it shows too much violence and sex. But in the developing world, television is a positive force for change, says Charles Kenny, a development economist with the World Bank.

Television is still a new medium in many places, and its influence is greater than the internet, writes Kenny in "Revolution in a Box", in Foreign Policy magazine. For example, more than half of the people in India have televisions, but only about seven per cent have access to the internet.

The shows people want to watch, Kenny says, “…seem to be pretty much the same everywhere — sports, reality shows and, yes, soap operas.” Whether or not you believe that TV shows such as Desperate Housewives offer quality television viewing, Kenny says that many soap operas portray women who are well educated, have careers or run businesses, and have few children. In other words, the characters are role models for poor women.

The television shows that people want to watch seem to be pretty much the same everywhere in the world.

TV benefits society in other ways, too. According to a World Bank survey, writes Kenny, in poor areas of Brazil young people who watch television are less likely to use drugs. He says “…watching TV exposes people to new ideas and different people. With that will come greater opportunity, growing equality, a better understanding of the world…”.