In my own view, I agree with Stevens that watching TV does not make you any smarter. Stevens advocates that shows such as ER and 24 are only,”good at teaching you to think…about future episodes...” In Stevens view, watching all those hit dramas, 24 and ER will not increase your IQ anymore than the person who does not watch TV. I understand the logic behind Johnson’s claim that shows with more complex story lines and loads of multi-threading can have a higher cognitive value when compared to the less complex and intense shows. However I am not convinced that watching these shows, is actually more beneficial then reading a novel, playing a round of
Although Johnson and fellow couch potatoes would truly love to believe that watching TV works wonders on your brain, it is surely a fantasy with no relation to real life Johnsons’ main argument is that TV has gotten more complicated over the years and our brains have to compensate for that. The calls this the Sleeper Curve and defines it: “The most debased forms of mass diversion- video games and violent TV dramas and juvenile sitcoms,- turn out to be nutritional after all” (215). More simply put, that even if TV is really bad, it is still a force for good, improving our brains and not making us dumb. Johnson compares what you gain from TV to what you gain from reading: attention, patience, retention, and parsing narrative threads. The complexity of TV places demands on the same cognitive qualities.
In the last decades, the issue of using television as a learning tool became the center of many controversies. Some people consider it to be effective and believe that it should be acknowledged, while others claim that it is far from being an educational means and that it must not be considered as an educational tool nor should it play an instructive role in their lives. In this essay, Paul Robinson falls into the second group as he argues that TV cannot take any didactic part in people’s lives or habits. After reading the article I came to agree with the author in his point of view on this subject on certain points and to disagree on others. One the first hand, I believe that there can t be an equal substitute for real teachers and actual books.
Television makes people look deep inside and think about the notions of good and evil. Not every person that watches television is affected by and shares emotions. In the television series The Sopranos, Tony Soprano kills, threatens and projects anger to other people. Harold says, “We do not just take on one character or one point of view, and we do not respond emotionally in only one way” (248). Harold also says that it’s okay to like Tony because he is a fictional character (241).
An Interpretive Approach to Analyzing 8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter: The Role and Power of Ideology Television shows help frame ideologies that viewers are meant to interpret as normality’s for their everyday lives. With almost every modern household in possession of a television or computer with popularity of these devices growing it is increasingly important that people understand how sitcoms frame society and culture as we know it. Furthermore, it is import for people to deconstruct how these sitcoms dictate our morals, wardrobe to dialogue, to the problems the character’s face and how they handle them, to the character’s themselves, viewers are shown how to act dress, think, and handle life’s problems accordingly with the rest of society. Television gives its viewers entertainment while shaping them into what the ideologies that dominate and high class feel should be the standard of normal. Sitcoms in particular give an ideal of family life to the public.
Cookies-or-Heroin? Is television as addictive as Heroin or Alcohol? Some consider over- indulging in television as a serious addiction along the lines of such. Marie Winn’s “Cookies or Heroin” article talks about the dangers of television and the effect it can have on someone’s life, often causing viewers to neglect aspects of everyday life, simultaneously making them unaware of their addictions and implies that the addiction is akin to that of alcoholism or heroin. In my opinion television addiction is just not that serious.
English 5A: Academic Literacy I Spring 12 / 3 Units California State University – Fresno Instructor: Mike Maníquiz mmaniquiz@csufresno.edu Office: PB 404 Hours: MWF: 9:30 – 10:30 AM Required Texts 1. Colombo, Gary, Robert Cullen and Bonnie Lisle. Rereading America. 8th Ed. (Bedford, Boston) 2.
There were a lot of emotions used, like for example “Self-confessed television addict often feel they ought to do other things, but the fact that they don’t read and plant their garden or sew or crochet or play games or have conversations means that those activities are no longer as desirable as television viewing”, (Winn) In my opinion she is saying that television addicts no longer have the passion for anything anymore, television takes away from the small things that are fun to do. Another example of pathos, “And yet television does not satisfy, else why would the viewer continue to watch hour after hour, day after day”. To me she is saying that television doesn’t really satisfy the addict’s needs that is why they continue to watch. Marie also uses logos in one of her paragraphs by saying “They are living in a holding pattern, as it were, passing up the activities that lead to growth or development or a sense of accomplishment”. By this statement, I feel Marie is saying that by watching TV this will make addicts procrastinate on getting things that they need to get done finished and that they can’t learn anything and grow from experiences in life if they are glued to the
The average American child watches TV, plays video games in front of a TV and also staring in a computer screen a good part of the day. As long as kids are safe inside the house they are not encourage to go out and play and exercise. The typical American parent is too busy working and being “lazy” to plan meals and family time. Even on TV commercials the whole family is either watching TV or using the tablet, phone or computer, what type of family time is that? Parents usually seek the easier route by picking up dinners which are super high in carbs and sodium, or rent movies to pacify the kids after school.
Just come home to your lonely house everyday and sit and watch TV by yourself. To me that is not successful ether. Ether way, I guess what I’m saying, is money does not always bring happiness or success; however I do think it is required for me to be successful. Money will not make happiness for me ether, I think it is a means to achieve your goals and be truly successful. I believe a true success, and what I hope with all my heart to achieve, is to have enough money to get a decent house, not a mansion by any means.