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<title> THE TELEVISION IN OUR LIVES. </title>
In his book "Amusing ourselves to death" Neil Postman writes: "Television, as I have implied earlier, serves us most usefully when presenting junk-entertainment; it serves us most ill when it co-opts serious modes of discourse- news, politics, science, education, commerce, religion- and turns them into entertainment packages. We would all be better off if television got worse, not better." Having read Postman's statement I had to sit down for a while and think. What purpose does television serve in our lives? How much time and space do we give this artificial friend? The last couple of years the offer of television entertainment has increased enormously and twenty-four hours a day you are offered something new, or a rerun, to waste some time watching. I will try to make my opinion in this matter clear, and then I will try to see if there is a connection between were you place your TV set and how much time you spend watching it. Hopefully I will make you think about your television habits, and how much time does the TV steal from you?
The list of pros and cons about television and what it can give us can be made long and of course opinions differ about the subject. To get an idea about people's attitude towards television I asked a couple of friends about their television habits. Since I'm not used to a lot of television watching, I found, not very surprising, that almost all of my friends spend a lot more time watching television then than I do, most of them spend a lot more time watching TV than for example, doing their homework. Statistics say that about three-quarters of the Swedish population spends twice as much time watching TV than talking to their children. What priorities in life do you value when you spend your time like that? I'm sure they do not think about it, but it is surely frightening facts. 
Moreover, I think it's very interesting where in your room/ -apartment you keep your television set. The position of the TV in your home, I suggest, reflects your watching habits. As an example, I want to compare two living rooms I've recently seen, and maybe the persons living there. The first one belongs to my uncle and his wife, when I first came into their living room I didn't see a TV at all, but later I came into the room as my cousins sat in the sofa and, as I saw it, were looking into a little cupboard. Then I realized that they had the TV in a little cupboard it the wall, which was easy to shut and then the TV disappeared. It is an advantage to just de-centralize the TV and make the living room to, what it is, a living room with room to spend time together. The other living room belongs to a friend of mine. The first thing you see when you enter his apartment is the TV. Big, black, new and expensive your attention is almost immediately drawn to it, and it is surly the most important piece of furniture in the apartment. It seams as if the TV is placed there by the clear intention to show us, the guests, that the TV is more important than we are. Consequently, the position of the TV set in a home may reveal the owner's attitude, or appreciation of his/her guests. And if this is so, it seams like it is my uncle's intention to show us that we, the guests, are most important.
In the end, of course one can't judge everyone that has a TV to be television addicted. But without doubt is television one of our most busy time-stealers, stealing time without our even knowing it. Precious time we could have used to talk to each other, to our children maybe, and to care about each other. My opinion in this matter is clearly that television steals too much time from us. I am brought up almost without TV and the only negative effect I've had from this is that I couldn't keep up with my friends discussing soap- operas during lunch in school. It is clear the TV has a central position in our living rooms and in our lives, and only you yourself can decide how much time you shall give it. But my question remains, haven't you got anything better todo?
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