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It has been suggested that nowadays television would be the opium of the masses insted of religion. It is true that television has more "supporter" than any religion, and television has also been able to break many cultural barriers in a way no religion has ever done. But I still would not consider TV religion's equal and especially not its winner: In my opinion TV is more like a necessity than a lifestyle as a religion would be .
I think - or I would like to think - that there are only very few people whose lives are ruled by TV. TV is not using people, people are using TV. Television is a medium superior to any other medium: It can offer new information constantly for example during catastrophies and accidents that concern a lot of people. Of course television cannot feel compassion or comfort people as religion might do but it is relieving to get information, facts, about the situation if there is some kind of crisis, and that can be quite comforting .
In my opinion television's function as an entertainer is almost as important as its informing function. Some people may find the programs on TV lousy and of no cultural or intellectual value, but I think it is very important to be able to relax in front of brainless TV-shows once in a while, especially after a long day at work or school. People do not have to be educated all the time, and I do not think they even want to. Intelligent TV-programs are not the only source of education - you can learn many things about almost anything by watching for example cartoons. Also movies from all over the world are a great source of information about different cultures, about how people are living in different countries .
It is important, however, to keep at least a little control on for example what children are watching on TV. In my opinion no censorship from the side of the broadcasters is required, but it should be the parents' responsibility to try to see to that their children can independently make relatively good choices while watching TV. Television is a great babysitter once in a while, but children should be encouraged to have other activities as well as watching TV. I believe that if children learn to watch TV selectively, they will grow up to be critical and responsible, and they can probably also teach their children to think before watching anything that is aired .
The reason I do not think censorship from the side of the broadcasters is necessarily a good thing, is that I believe that people can decide for themselves what is good for them and what is not. That, however, does not always seem to be the case: At least in Finland people are constantly complaining about the poor TV-programs and they write letters to newspapers saying: "I saw a lousy program..." I do not think that it is television's fault if people watch programs they find poor. In my opinion every reasonable human being can change the channel or turn off the TV if they do not like what they see .
