ABSTRACT
Television may be the most pervasive and representative medium of the 20th century. It is a window into the world that is situated in the center of American living rooms as well as public spaces like Times Square. It represents and shapes American expectations of life by making available a consistent stream of alluring and engaging audiovisual messages that provide concrete, detailed examples of what is normal, important, and expected of all members of the American community. Chapter 5 explores how network television coupled a reliance on technology as an omniscient and omnipresent source of information with expectations of multimodal domestic accessibility. A television is a device that receives and converts radio waves into audiovisual information; network television technology in the United States refers to free broadcast audiovisual content. By describing the psychology of video communications, repetition, and feelings of belongingness, I argue that the widespread adoption of network television established the expectation that Americans would be able to access video communication anytime and anywhere, and that others will be engaging with this content at the same time regardless of geography, allowing everyone to visualize a shared American identity.
