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TELEVISION IN MODERN LIFE

How do people usually answer the questions like "What are you going to do tonight?" or "What are you doing at the weekend?" In other words, how do people spend their free time?

Some twenty or thirty years ago the usual answers used to be: "We're going to the theatre (or to the cinema)" or "We're going to a party" or "We're having some friends round". Now you very often hear

"We're going to stay at home and watch the telly!"A first-rate colour TV set has becomean ordinary thing in the household today, and a video cassette recorder is quickly becoming one.

Modern television offers the viewers several programmes on different channels. In addition to regular newscasts you can see plays and films, operas and ballets, and watch all kinds of contests, quizzes, and sporting events. You can also get a lot of useful information on the educational channel. A good serial (perhaps, a detective story or a screen version of a classical novel) can keep the whole family in front of the telly for days, and don't we spend hours and hours watching our favourite football or hockey team in an important international event?

Television most definitely plays a very important part in people's lives. But is this a good thing

or a bad one? Haven't we become lazier because of television? Don't we go out less often than we used to? Don't we read less?

THE INFLUENCE OF TV ON CHILDREN

The influence of TV on children is a problem common to all developed countries, and Ukraine is no exception. According to socio­logists, almost 90 per cent of school children spend their free time watch­ing TV. A teenager spends between 1 1/2 and 4 hours watching TV. To produce programmes that are interesting and informative is not a simple task and a great deal is being done in this field. Producers and writers of children's programmes try to make sure that their viewers are not turned into passive recipients, their aim is to encourage the young­ster to do something useful, to do something good.

Educational TV is developing rapidly. Its programmes cover 17 school and college subjects, as well as 13 other topics ranging from space to chess

problems. Foreign languages — English, German, French and Spanish — are taught on TV. The evidence of the success of these programmes is the large number of letters received from vie­wers.

Children send not only letters but also telegrams. One sent by a group of young viewers to their favourite narrator read: "We wish you the best of health and please don't go away on holiday."