"Television: The Plug-In Drug" By Marie Winn

Winn, M. (2011). Television: the plug-in drug. In S. Cohen, 50 essays (pp. 438-447). Boston: Bedford St. Martins.

In the essay, “Television: The Plug-In Drug,” by Marie Winn talks about how television distant family, at the same time brings them together.  Winn talks about how television diminishes the quality of life causing people to have less interactions and communications between each other and how they are less active in their community.   Television, however, makes people thinks that whatever the screen depicts is true but is really not.  They don’t know that what they see is only an act put on by actors and actresses.  Most shows are not real, but the people watching it does not know that and thinks that whatever they see on television is how the world is. 
                Social media, on the other hand, is a lot like television.  It has also distant family becoming widely known and used every day.  Today, people are always on the internet; this has cause people to have less interaction in real life.  Television and social media, though, differs a little.  Social media is a tool where people use it to communicate with each other, just not face to face.  Social media keeps people connected and updated in their everyday lives through Facebook, emails, etc.  Though, this sometimes cause people to not be active physically because they are in too wrapped up in the world of the internet that they don’t go out and see the real world.