Lauren Zalaznick: Does Television Have A Conscience?

In Steven Johnson's persuasive essay “Watching Tv Makes You Smarter,” he defies what our culture teaches us about television. Our society teaches that television is making our youth “dumb” and that our culture enjoys the “simple pleasures” so that is what the media companies are feeding us with. But, Johnson states that based on what the show “24” suggests, the “exact opposite is happening: the culture is getting more cognitively demanding, not less” (1). The growing interest of TV programs with complex mental faculties involves three primary elements: multiple threading, flashing arrows and social networks (2).

Today, Film and Television are among the most internationally supported commodities. Financially, their contributions are enormous: both industries are responsible for the circulation of billions of dollars each year. Since their respective explosions into the new media markets during the mid-twentieth century, film and television have produced consistently growing numbers of viewers and critics alike. Sparking debate over the nature of their viewing, film and television are now being questioned in social, political, and moral arenas for their potential impact on an audience. Critics claim that watching films or television is a passive activity in which the viewer becomes subconsciously

In conclusion, television wouldn't quite be the television we know today if it had a limited, narrowed genre of only realistic programs. Television is there to attract the viewers with what they want to see. They may want to watch the news, a reality show, a game show, or most recently many have tuned in to watch the Democratic Presidential Debate. Barbara's idea of television is that without reality or things people can do in real life, boredom is ensured to happen. Despite her claim, television continues to play a big part in not only American culture, but multiple cultures around the

Throughout the years of TV, it has done a good job of capturing some of the world’s most dominating issues and topics in a variation of angles in order to bring light to ones that can divide and unite many. These issues range from religion, gender, sexuality and social class.

Just by looking at how we watch television today one can tell how society has evolved with media. There was a time before television, then it was all the rage, and now it’s starting to decline. I don’t watch much television because the commercials drive me

96.7% of people in the United States own a television. The majority of those people have at least one show that they watch regularly. In some cases, it’s even more than that. It’s obvious, at least to me, that TV shows and their characters are incredibly important to people. They have become more than just a source of entertainment. TV shows are important to people because they encourage representation, give people something to look forward to, and dive into moral issues.

Steven Johnson bases his argument on the observation of increased complexity we have seen in TV shows over the last thirty plus years. In spite of this, most critics continue to argue that TV has a way of dumbing down our culture. Instead of focusing on the aspects of values, violence, sexual content, and obscenity in TV, Johnson focuses on how much mental work is required

Can T.V. shows be the reflection of our society or influence the behavior of the members of our community? Since 1936 when television broadcasting begin, it priority was to inform and to entertain our society; subsequently, a massive amount of rules and regulations were created to control the material presented in TV, which principal goal was to safeguard the moral and ethical standards of it time. Nevertheless, from its beginning to the present home entertainment television standards contents have change; likewise, the moral an ethics values of our society have change and continuing changing from generation to generation. TV shows from the 50’s, 80’s, and the present exposed many changes in the way human role are exposed, the language

Television is one of the best innovative inventions ever. There are so many networks that offer a variety of channels that cater to the likes of their audiences. This major media platform contributes to informing, persuading, and entertaining the public. More than anything, television provides us with TV shows that spark our many interests. In other words, television reflects reality and fabrication, but both keep us wanting to see more. Once Upon A Time is a show on ABC that does just that and more. The seven truths that the media do not want us to know are all represented in this show. Now, that we are consciously media literate, we are able to recognize and uncover concepts portrayed that reflect

When there is a mass communication takes in, it is easily connecting to few ethical theories used while the discussion heats. Part of people from the argument uses deontological views that one show is better than the other or vise verse. It tends to seem as this particular groups use of theory as in obligation towards the favorite show as somewhat of defendant position and

The argument of this essay is that TV viewers are being hypnotized by the media we see into “being lulled into physical and mental inactivity.” He calls viewers “a bunch of MTV-addicted, Jerry Springer loving mall rats” and says that we spend an average of 9 years of our lives “glued” to a box.” He also states that the viewers are set into two categories: passive and active”. Passive viewers sit in front of the TV with their time being wasted as they are transformed into mindless zombies as their show progresses. Active viewers are the people who look at what they are seeing and form concepts from it-this, to the author, is an advantage, but still defines TV audiences as collectively passive.

Most TV commercials are not worth watching. They are advertising about drugs, food, and insurance which I do not care for. Commercials came so often that disrupted the TV shows we watch. I do not pay attention to them TV commercials; therefore, they have no effect on me. They only have an affect on the people who pay attention to them and allow them to get in their mind.

In our daily lives, we are surrounded by experiences from people on the streets, at school, in the entertainment world such as TV shows, or even within our own close surroundings that may have profound effect on our decision making for our future. There are a wide variety of topics one can view on TV on any given day. There are reality shows, talk shows and fictional or nonfictional shows to choose from.

Television has held a common place in the households of western civilizations for well over 50 years now, but historically speaking, it 's only been recently that people have really begun to study television. Such studies have really started to be taken seriously and the audiences of television are also being compared and seen in different ways than they were in the past. Some of the studies concentrate more on how television affects memory, others look specifically at types of televisions and the genres they have created, and one of the most discussed ideas in television and its specific genre is, the media event.

Television remains an important medium in exposing the viewing public to marginalized ideas, life styles, and varied ways of thinking. Unlike a film, which usually takes place over a self-contained two-hour period, television offers more screen time over the arch of seasons to explore characters and themes in deeply meaningful and personal ways. Aided by its structure and format, television programs are able to touch people, helping to change how we all view the world. In recent years, and amongst the explosion in popularity of platforms such as Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix, willing to take risks on shows and themes previously perceived as too risqué for television, programs have pushed the