Essay Television and Its Impacts on Society

There is no doubt that television holds a purpose in our society today, but is that purpose brain-numbing or actually beneficial to our brain development? The television, also known as: TV, the boob tube, the idiot box, as well as many other nicknames, has been around for almost a hundred years. Ever since cable TV became popular in the 1950’s, there has always been a worry that people watch too much TV. Most people believe that with exorbitant exposure to the popular media both dumbs us down as well as makes us more likely to tolerate acts of violence. Dana Stevens’ “Thinking Outside the Idiot Box” argues that television does not make you smarter, directly

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).

In the article “Brain Candy: Is pop culture dumbing us down or smartening us up?” by Malcolm Gladwell, the author begins by addressing the bases of I.Q testing that are mostly done on many Americans and the comparison that occurs within the results for many years. The author continued to discussed the many perspectives in which television and videogames are making us smarter rather than dumber. As explained by Steven Johnson in the article, television is much more different from how it used to be many years ago, watching many of the television programs, movies, series etc. required expand our knowledge and play a major role in the way we think. Many of the

     What role does television play in society? For decades we have seen many parts of our world rapidly going through changes in technology. Today’s society has been transformed by means of communication and the available information through mass media. Most Americans rely on television for news, sports, and entertainment. Television is just one of the many examples of how technology has changed our lives. Since the invention of the television in the early 1900’s, it has played a very important role in our lives. Having a television set in the home has become very essential in today’s society. We depend on it to entertain us with its sitcoms and to inform us about current world issues. The

In modern day, television is very prominent in many people’s lives. This brings attention to the question of whether or not watching television makes you smarter. Some argue that because of complex shows such as 24, the culture is getting “more cognitively demanding, not less” (278). However, some believe that mass culture “follows a path declining steadily toward lowest-common-denominator standards, presumably because the ‘masses’ want dumb, simple pleasures and big media companies try to give the masses what they want” (278). In Steven Johnson’s article, Watching TV Makes You Smarter, he asserts that exactly what his title suggests. He believes this because of something he calls the Sleeper Curve. The Sleeper Curve is the concept of cognitive intricacy improving due to mass media influences. Johnson does an exceptional job at convincing myself and other readers that watching television can, in fact, make you smarter. He does this by using the rhetorical features such as presenting dissenting opinions fairly, using relevant examples, and using personal pronouns.

To begin with we will look at the issue of how modern TV can enlighten the audience. The author Stephen Johnson makes the argument of how TV is more complex, therefore it makes you smarter, in his article “Watching TV

Does television make you smarter? Well, it does all but that unless you’re watching educational shows of course. Television is a large part of the American society and has influenced us tremendously. It unites others to watch, it helps commercialize for companies, entertains, it excites, it makes time go by, and even can make you obese. It is very hard to avoid and easily addicting.

I recently read an essay written by American author Steven Johnson entitled Watching TV Makes You Smarter. Millions of Americans who are engrossed in today’s TV programming might be surprised at the concept. You see, for years, sitting down to watch TV was thought of as a lazy way to turn off your brain and veg out (to spend time idly or passively). (Britannica) While this may still be true, Johnson argues that the increased complexity in today’s TV shows forces us to become intellectually involved as opposed to merely entertained. The idea of TV increasing our intelligence would be a fantastic idea to most viewers. Dana Stevens (movie critic for Slate Magazine) offered a rebuttal in response to Johnson’s piece, struggling to make sense of his claims in her piece Thinking Outside the Idiot Box. Just from her title of describing the television as an ‘Idiot Box”, you can easily guess her thoughts on the subject. I believe that Johnson has presented some very intriguing evidence to back his claims while Stevens’ rebuttal offers little to no evidence to the contrary.

Many people own a television set in their home for a purpose that varies for each individual. Having a TV is beneficial in various ways. Steven Johnson sheds light on a controversy that involves the “...masses want dumb, simple pleasures and big media companies try to give the masses what they want. (278)” Johnson makes a compelling argument that “the culture is getting more cognitively demanding, not less.

The importance of television goes deeper than mindless entertainment. It is an integral part of social interactions that builds communities and good relations globally. While it still functions as an excellent source of entertainment, it also educates the public and inspires lifelong learners. These learners often become educators just by spreading the ideas that they become passionate about to others and then, those ideas transform into action and changes that translate into realities beyond the television.

Like Archon, Blaszczak-Boxe (2015) believes that involving one’s self in physical activity instead of watching television is very healthy for the brain. After research, Blaszczak-boxe found that people who watch more television were more likely to have bad performances on tests. Blaszczak- Boxe describes a study that took place for twenty five years. More than three thousand two hundred participants were ask questions every two to five years. Questions that were being asked had something to do with how many hours of TV they watched in one day. After the study, the researchers tested the participants on their processing skills. After everything was all said and done, the people who watched a lot of television and had very little physical activity

Watching TV, has a strong possibility to make you smarter depending on what you are watching and if you are actually paying attention to the plot. Steven is trying to show everyone that watching TV play a major part in our lives today and the benefits is that it makes you smarter. When you are watch interesting intelligence brain stimulating shows like 24, The West Wing, and ER. “He argues, that these shows combine the complicated plot threads of soap opera with realistic characters and important social issues of night time drama” (416). There are several ways to determine if something playing on TV is influencing our thinking process. One of the most important ways is the type of thinking

People all over the world turn on their television each night and watch a few moments to a few hours of television and it is hard to miss a reality show which on almost any channel. If they were to pause on one of these shows they might not know it but they would bettering themselves on a personal level. Based on the ideas of Steven Johnson the average person could learn a thing or two from reality TV. In his article called, “Watching TV Makes You Smarter” Johnson states that; "For decades, we've worked under the assumption that mass culture follows a path declining steadily toward lowest-common-denominator standards, presumably because the "masses" want dumb, simple pleasures and big media

In Watching TV makes you smarter, published in "The New York Times" on April 24, 2005, Steven Johnson argues for the multiple threads, fewer flashing arrows and social networking that make modern Television nourishing cognitive food. In answer to Johnson's article, "Carrie" posted Does watching TV make you stupid? on May 1, 2005. Carrie presents further blogs on May 3rd and May 7th, 2005; however, the gist of her arguments are contained in her first blog. Comparing the logic of Johnson's argument for and Carrie's argument against Television as cognitive food, I believe that Johnson presents the more convincing argument.

There is no doubt that when it comes to American youth television is one of the biggest influences by far. Many parents would love to say that their child does not watch that much TV but in reality they are spending a lot of time watching television or using media in some way. “The study by the Kaiser Family foundation shows that children ages 2-8 spend an average of 5 ½ hours a day “consuming media” kids 8 and older spend even more time in front of the tube nearly 6 ¾ hours a day” (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005 ). Astonishingly, more time is being spent with media then doing homework, studying or even spending time with family. A child’s retention of what