Meaningful Way to Relax
		The fact that modern life-style is much more stressful then has been the life of our parents, and especially grand-parents’ generation, is unnecessary to prove. We live in high-tech informational age, in a world where changes occur at hyper-speed. We are bombarded with information: from TV news to the street advertisements, from newspaper headlines to e-mail messages and so forth.  Every day we are faced with difficult decisions and a multiple choices to make, while the possibilities increase rapidly. 
For the majority of city-residents the need to find a meaningful relaxing activity has become the major concern.  While there are many opportunities for finding and enjoyable pastime activity, many people seem to have found a way to relax in watching television. 
At the first glance watching TV seems a great way to relax and to gather information. TV has served for entertainment as well as for educational purposes. For example, it has been argued that television is helpful for learning languages and for providing various educational programs for children, such as teaching them numbers or ABC.
While the viewer is not required to do anything, and, therefore, is able to relax, he/she is provided with information and entertainment.  For instance, TV offers us a variety of films and comedy shows that make us laugh and allow us to have rest from our work or family matters. There is also a mixture of informative programs: scientific, cultural, educational, etc.   Discovery, History, National Geographic channels have been very successful and have drawn viewers from all over the world toward their 
TV screens. Television has indeed brought the world closer together by making it possible for the latest cultural trends and country-specific news to be easily spread around the globe.
On the other hand, one may as well argue that television has had more negative effects than positive.
Whereas it has provided much educational and useful information, recently, mass television watching has raised issues of serious concern. First one is the fact that there is too much violence on TV. It seems that negativity and violence has become the main criteria for broadcasting. It has been especially alarming because such images have become easily accessible to children viewers. While the effect such images may have on young minds is a whole different discussion, the increasing amount of violence on television has become apparent to anyone who watches it at least once in a while. 
It has also been argued that TV makes people passive as many become addicted to meaningless “channel surfing”.  Almost of every one of us has experienced its effects at least once: it happens when a person sits down intending to watch just one program and then finds him- or herself locked in front of a TV screen hours later.  
Whether or not watching television is a meaningful activity can be debated in various ways; however, one must remember that a viewer having decided to watch TV is making a choice which requires sacrificing an opportunity to spend his/her time in another way. The things television watching is taking us away from can be these of critical importance – such as communicating with family or friends, working or studying. Television has been blamed for stopping children from reading – a much more useful activity requiring greater mental exercise. 
 Whether hours spent even on educational programs are worth stopping communicating with family is a question for individual consideration. It is clear though, that whatever activity we choose for relaxation, it has to be consistent with our values and priorities. Although watching television can be quite useful and enjoyable, there has not been a case of someone on a death bed regretting not spending more time in front of it.