by Tommy Koh

Created on: August 31, 2008

As technology improves day by day, so has the medium for information transfer. In the past, radio was the only means of transmitting and recieving latest news and updates. But as we move on in time and advancement, the benefits of television, such as visual stimulation, greater understanding of the true situation, places it ahead of the radio.

Radio was handy and easy to use, switch it on, with a handset on or off, it can be accessed. As time went by, with the leaps in advancements, television sets now are incorporated into handphones or even small handy sets that can be brought around. Portability is not a problem anymore, since usefulness here is defined by the accessibility of news. The additional benefit offered by portable sets are that when you listen to the news on your handphone, you get live images of what is actually happening, providing curious humans the chance to experience the situation of the news itself, providing better understanding and helps educate them on the cause and effects of the news reported (e.g disasters or crime).

Not forgetting the fact that both mediums are for entertainment. Radio's basic transmissions are of music and story telling through the air. As for television sets, its music television (MTV) and live documentaries and dramas through the air. Both shows the advancement in the form of entertainment the end users enjoy. Human's are stimulated in five main ways, audio, visual, touch, taste and smell. Television basically provides two forms of stimulation to the human mind as compared to the one that radio provides. It enhances the enjoyment of the entertainment provided.

And when it comes to educational information transfer as of documentaries, it allows one to use two senses to understand the facts of certain events or items that would be impossible with a radio. Just take documentaries of the human body, with no visual aids, its almost impossible for one to understand what is going on and thus lose its entertainment value. And in the classrooms, being an officer cadet currently, my instructors will screen movies and clips to help us better understand war tactics and situational studies. I believe having such aids would help people visualise and learn better, it also allows us to concentrate better, imagine the instructor speak as if he is using the radio, half the class will be asleep and not learning much.

The benefits of the television is far more than the radio and the usefulness in transmitting information, providing entertainment and its portability is far more superior, thus i believe the television is more useful.

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