I can say with confidence that I have always had at least one TV in my house. Even growing up with divorced parents in two separate households, I've always been exposed to television. My parents loved having an easy form of entertainment for me, because they could shut me up for hours just by sitting me in front of the television. Being the third (and last) child, I was often left rather unsupervised when it came to my TV watching habits, so I was watching too much Spongebob Squarepants at far too young of an age. With this being said, I've never known my household to not have a TV and I likely never will know anything different. While I can't imagine my life without television, a household without television was the reality for a great sum of the American population at one time.
Television is a great example to apply to the Diffusions of Innovations Theory. The pioneer stage of television started as a brand new invention that offered new entertainment opportunities and a change in mass communication. Television's first initial showcase occurred in the 1920s, but the television boom didn't happen in the United States until the late 1940s. In the 1940s, there were only three main TV networks: NBC, ABC, and CBS. The number of American households that owned a TV went from less than one million to 44 million in the span of 20 years. TV entertainment was on the rise, as well as mass news reporting. Television coverage proved extremely useful in the 1960s with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy -- where news programs dedicated days of airtime to cover the story. Millions of Americans tuned in to their TV sets to watch the immediate news coverage of the president's assassination. Without that kind of coverage, American citizens wouldn't have been able to get fast updates. The attacks of 9/11 were a similar situation where news networks used days and days of airtime to cover the ongoing story. Television changed the way that people were able to access and obtain current news. Owning a television offered Americans the opportunity for a quick, efficient way of getting their news.
Television was no exception to the early adopter phase of the Diffusion Theory. Consumers were buying television sets when they were still limited to the three main TV networks -- and sometimes those three networks didn't even air anything on every single day. There were early adopters because television was a new, game changing kind of technology that was going to bring a basket of new changes. Television made entertainment and news consumption far more convenient, so there's no surprise that so many people were quick to purchase television sets. The spread of television being owned in American households continued to rise. By 1990, 65 million Americans had household cable subscriptions, and more programs were beginning to emerge. Fast forward to now, it is estimated that there are 122.4 million TVs owned in America.
Despite over 80% of American households owning at least one television set, there are still some TV-less homes. In 2009, 1.3% of the American population didn't own a television. As a matter of fact, that number has increased to 2.6% as of 2015. The possibility of non-adopters boils down to the fact that some older generation citizens might prefer to get their news the "old-fashioned" way through newspapers. Older citizens also are likely to have less of an interest in modern-day television drama series or reality TV shows. I can't imagine my grandmother watching my beloved The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills or The Bachelor, simply because I know that the content of that show might give her a heart attack or just confuse her to no end. Television has always had non-adopters, and it is likely that there will always be a percentage of American households that do not own a TV.
Television, like any mainstream technology, has its downsides to match the benefits. Television has made it easier to consume news and entertainment, however it has made Americans lazy. As of March 2021, Americans on average spend 12 hours a week watching television including live TV. The world of television is an easy universe to get sucked into. Nowadays, there are so many different channels and programs to pick from, that it's far too easy to spend too much time watching. Streaming services have also contributed to how much time Americans are spending in front of the TV. Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Paramount+, etc. have all played their hand into the ongoing American TV poker game. Spending too much time watching TV can affect mental and physical health, since watching TV doesn't take any real exercise or brain power.
I don't believe that TV is a bad thing. TV was a huge part of my childhood and it has continued to be important to me throughout my life. I think that TV, as long as it is absorbed in a controlled and healthy way, is a good product. I can't imagine any other kind of communication technology that could do the same as television, however I don't doubt that someone will come up with something improved and something "better" in my lifetime.
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