I would definitely say that Comedy Central's Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report are part of the "media" that affects people’s opinion. These television shows are a way to provide comedic relief to the issues our economy faces; however, these shows still have an impact of how the viewer will understand an issue at hand. It is very difficult for anyone to be completely unbiased and with constantly hearing other people’s opinion through the media. We cannot make a decision of how “we” feel about the topic. Thus, democracy and a fair voting group become tainted.
Neil Postman, the author of Amusing Ourselves to Death, presents bold new ideas about television and modern culture. He analyzes the media, past and present, as well as the mediums of cultures until present to come to one discovery. Public discourse, mainly political discourse, has been tainted because it is presented more in images than in words. Postman uses many different rhetorical devices to convince us it is terrible that pictures have replaced words as the chief mode of communication. Hyperbole is the first device that postman uses.
As the technology era advances, people are gravitating closer to a television where as reading a newspaper is considered an interest from the past. The television audience is failing to realize the main point of T.V., including news programs, is to keep people watching so that sponsors and others can make more money through ratings and increased interest in products. In “How to Watch T.V. News”, Neil Postman and Steve Powers state “Anyone who relies exclusively on television for his or her knowledge of the world is making a serious mistake” (x), This statement is true, for television news is not solely reporting what actually occurs. Rather it is reporting what T.V.
Dana Stevens "Thinking Outside the Idiot Box" is a direct response to Steven Johnson's essay " Watching TV makes you Smarter". Stevens said that she did not understand what his article was about. She did not really agree with anything besides that watching tv is okay-- you should'nt watch a lot of it but you should watch a decent amount of it. Some things that Stevens seemed to talk a lot about was that Johnson metioned something the show 24 saying that it is "nutritional" but fails to mention that there was controversy over plot lines that had to do with torture and representation of Muslim terrorists in the show. But she does mention that the show did somehow get social issues into the show which can open viewers eyes about what is going
Thinking Outside the Idiot Box In the essay, “Thinking outside the Idiot box” Dana Stevens argues that watching TV should be about your entertainment. It shouldn’t focus on whether it makes you less of a person. Stevens primarily uses a logical argument to support her sarcasm toward Stevens Johnson’s article, Watching TV makes you smarter.” Stevens start her essay off with a lot of sarcasm on Johnson article, “Watching television makes you smarter.” She directs her attention to everyone in the world who watches TV. She states, “ those of us who grew up in caveman days, fashioning crude stone tools while watching Starsky and Hutch, are indeed now better positioned than our forebears to follow such complex narrative fare as The Sopranos” (Stevens 232). This let us know she is not just focusing on one age group.
As we make advancements and progress, we(humans) are expected to become more intelligent. This is supposedly true, but only to some extent. Human minds become simpler in the means of thought, as seen through the character of Mildred. She is constantly watching TV and thus her brain is forced to process less thoughts because the TV is doing all the thinking for her. Mildred even begins to consider the television characters her “family.” Along with so many other forms of modern technology, TV has us in its clasp.
Javier Pimentel Professor Warda English 101 26 January 2015 Gin, Television, and Social Surplus by Clay Shirky, was urging the people to stop wasting time watching television and instead to be more productive with their free time. How the increase in the time that the society spends watching television has led to a waste of the surplus. He goes on to explain that what started as a way for people having free time has grown into a way to waste a persons free time. That instead of wasting the time, people should be using the time to be more productive. I think that what his saying is true about how people spend hours of the day wasting their time and not being as productive as they should be.
Many people argue that technology is actually causing us to lose touch with each other and reality in general. In Thinking Outside the Idiot Box, Dana Stevens lashes out against claims that watching television will actually make you smarter. Stevens’ piece is a response to an article written by Steven Johnson titled Watching TV Makes You Smarter. Stevens denies Johnson’s statements by saying that watching TV only
There are older people that are more in tuned with video games than some and there are people that think that video games regardless of what they are for are useless and that they teach you bad things(how to kill),not useful information. I believe that there may be some that will shy away from video game training because of the unknown, the fear of not knowing how to play and not wanting to play. I am fifty-three and I have been playing video games forever it seems and I would be more than happy to have a training session or sessions that involved interactive video games. Eye and hand coordination’s expands, reflexes are better, there is a lot that can be learned just from playing a game imagine a training game. 4.
There is so much information being fed to us through our television. That sometimes it is too fast to notice the impact that it has on us and our culture. Watching television can become addicting for some people and that can result in poor social skills. Television also has a big influence on our youth today because many parents are unaware of they are watching on our television sets. The social influences of visual entertainment are mostly equal to me.