After a long day at school or work, many people come home to watch TV to relax and watch something they can easily digest. They watch TV because it is there in their home, they like a show, or they like a particular actor or actress. They find it easier to process images and audio, rather than read a book and think about what they are reading. They start to lose the ability to think critically and are easily able to take in ideas that have already been thought out for them. Their imagination is virtually lost because they are not forced to use it.
Not all shows on TV make us less intelligent though. There are some channels that provide us with education, such as History Channel, Discovery, and National Geographic. They give us shows like "Mythbusters", "Modern Marvels", and "Wild." Of course sometimes they can not compare to books, but they at least provide us with education. Though the problem is that many people cannot watch those shows for longer than five or six minutes and have to move on to another channel. They are very educational and sometimes provide a little more than books can. Some shows on the History Channel can give us reenactments, but there are times when it is over dramatized. Yes, there are some shows on these channels that lie, but there are plenty of other channels that constantly lie to us every time we watch them.
Shows on NBC, ABC, TBS, and TNT are there to provide us for entertainment, but how much of it is actually plausible? Sure "Law and Order" provides us with an outline of how the justice system works, but how much of it is true? When I watch Law and Order I always find myself trying to figure out what is true and what is false. Looking back,I did believe everything I heard and saw in one show, "ER," which aired on NBC for ten seasons. I honestly believed that certain procedures in the show were easy, until I was told otherwise. The line of authority is similar to real life, but it is strictly adhered to, not loosely like in "ER." After I asked my brother, who has worked in an actual ER, I realized that a lot of the material on the show was false. I still enjoyed watching the show afterwards, but I still tried to verify the fallacies in it.
I believe this is the majority of the programs on TV. Leaving out news networks, and news programs, TV has a plethora of programs that are reality, comedies, or dramas. They do all our thinking, and limit our growth of critical thinking skills. These skills come from books, a lost form of education. Now people prefer to watch something that is easily digested and understood. They find it easier to think about images than to try and decipher the hidden meaning in books. Seeing what they should imagine makes things easier for them. As we watch more and more TV we are training our brains to become computers to analyze simple images, rather than complex phrases.
Again, I believe balance is the key. We can watch TV when we are overly tired to try and understand a book, but we shouldn't entirely replace books with television. Books provide us with the opportunity to use our imagination to great lengths, but television limits us in so many ways. Maybe someday TV will provide us with programming that will actually challenge or minds and our beliefs.
Source:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/27201602/ns/today-entertainment/t/dumb-dumb-dumb-dumb-tvs-stupidest-shows/
I have discovered that watching television programs is generally an effective way to become anesthetized! Books engage my imagination. They are nonpareil for appealing to logos, pathos and ethos. Nonetheless, an excellent movie (without inane commercials) can be quite evocative.
ReplyDeleteI am the opposite. I always feel that TV engages my attention because I can see what is going on. I feel that it's easier for me to process images rather than words. I agree that an excellent movie can appeal to logos, pathos, and ethos just like books, if not better.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we should label TV as an evil. TV is the medium at which programming content is delivered. It is the shows *on* the TV that contain the "brain drain" content. However, I will agree that most shows presented in this format. Producers and writers have to present a cohesive story in 22 minutes and I feel that this is a rush for most sitcoms. I agree that TV can be used for good and educational purposes and it truly depends on the user to identify their programming needs.
ReplyDeleteI think the advantage of television is that it is able to give us a visual rather than just words. Their are so many shows and channels that educate us and show us things we would otherwise possibly never see. Without the visual aspect of TV, it would be hard to fully portray these types of things.
ReplyDeleteNational Geographic the channel allows us to see many things that we would not otherwise be able to see. A herd of elephants roaming about on the savannah and following the life of the matriarch elephant while she guides her desperate herd hundreds of miles to a watering hole. Also the History Channel and how it gives us visuals on how certain battles have been fought throughout the ages.
I mean, TV is not evil or dumb. I feel the person them self might be the person who is considered dumb if they actually believe that things they see on a comedy or drama show are actually true. Like you said, Law and Order or ER are loosely based on how it is actually done in the actually justice system or emergency room, respectively.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it is a drama. It is meant to entertain you. It is meant to keep you coming back to watch every week. I do not know how to explain somebody to takes a drama show as real life facts.
I agree that television is not dumb, its all in how you watch and interpet whatever it is that your watching. You should know the difference between whats real and whats not.It also gives you a better interpretation of what your watching because you can actually visualize whats going on instead of creating your own images.
ReplyDeleteIf you are someone who learns from the television, it could teach you the good and bad also. The educational channels teach you about real life situations so when u do come across the drama,comedy, etc. you know the difference between the real and fake.