Cultivation Theory

Television has become an important part of every household, including mine. My house in Kent has five television sets and my house in Medina has four. At home we do not have cable television, but still I find myself sitting in the living room staring at boring infomercials. In Kent, I watch television more often, especially on the weekends when I catch up on recorded shows I did not have time to watch during the week or watch a few movies that are shown on TBS or Disney.
I try not to watch a lot of television, but I am one that needs to have it on all the time. Even though the T.V. will be on for noise, I end up watching every show that comes on, leaving me in the heavy viewer category according to Gerbner.
The "mean world syndrome" is expected from heavy television viewers. This term is defined as increasing fear of social environments when someone is a high television viewer. The mean world only affects me after I watch a scary movie or an unfamiliar show that turns out to be mysterious or scary. After these incidents, I find myself having a hard time sleeping or clenching my maze firmly in my hand while walking late at night. The majority of my constant television shows are chick-flick shows or Disney. This leads me to have a less violent behavior and not allowing the "mean world syndrome" take over my life.
Mainstreaming and resonance can also affect heavy viewers’ thoughts after watching television. When I watch shows with houses catching on fire, I feel very uncomfortable. This comfort decreases further when I see fire trucks or see something on fire, other than a candle. I lost my grandfather in a fire and my dorm caught on fire over a year ago makes my fear of fire increase. I probably would not have been affected by fire on television, but experiencing fire first hard makes ignoring my fear difficult. Resonance enforces my fear by affecting heavy viewers who increase fears from being part of a similar situation. Mainstreaming creates a trend of how they expect specific people (such as business owners or teachers) to be presented.
I enjoyed this theory and even though I was confused with mainstreaming. I also agree with high television viewers being impacted by the shows they watch, but only to a degree, then I disagree with sections as well. I am affected by walking alone at night after watching television, but I am not involved in violence, I do not expect cops to be around when needed, and I also do not judge people (or trust) people based on television. This leads me to believe that this theory needs more work, or an adjustment with the type of shows each individual watches.