Watching Tv Makes You Smarter

The average American child watches 20 hours of television per week, that is 5,000 hours before first grade. Most children between the ages of 3-6 years old can even turn on the television and start a DVD by themselves. I am guilty of allowing my children more TV time then they should have, but I guess that is because I enjoy watching it myself. There are many hidden messages in children’s shows that I was oblivious to until now. For instance, in the show “Rugrats” Charlotte Pickles, Angelica’s mom never had time for her, always on the phone and working. Ethnic stereotyping is another message sent in Speedy Gonzalez’s cousin Slow Poke Rodriguez which is lazy, slow, and dim witted. Morality is also affected by these shows. Most every little boy

Stop Blaming Kids and TV Evaluation Mike Males starts his essay by explaining that TV is blamed by numerous for affecting kids to behave poorly, start smoking, drinking liquor, and doing drugs. He then contends that TV is not the reason after all of that kids get out of hand. He expresses that the reason kids do things is a direct result of the way adults impact them. In this essay Males explain how it is the guardians of these kids and adults their surronding that are impacting their behaviour, not the TV programs. kids watch adults and rehash what they see.

I happen to be sympathetic to that argument, but it's not the one I want to make here. I think there is another way to assess the social virtue of pop culture, one that looks at media as a kind of cognitive workout, not as a series of life lessons. There may indeed be more ''negative messages'' in the mediasphere today. But that's not the only way to evaluate whether our television shows or video games are having a positive impact. Just as important -- if not more important -- is the kind of thinking you have to do to make sense of a cultural experience. That is where the Sleeper Curve becomes visible.

The article Watching TV Makes You Smarter by Steven Johnson gives insight on how different shows with mystery solving backgrounds, puzzle solving problems, and medical related shows helps boost knowledge. Johnson breaks down his opinion by relating modern tv that does nothing to help the brain to shows like “The Sopranos”, to show that you can gain substance from watching tv (Johnson,173). TV today has shows like Family Guy and American Dad which are just for pure comedy and nothing more. Shows like “The Sopranos” help people better understand and gain knowledge. People view TV has something that will kill brain cells, however, there are a variety of shows that make people think and use their brain to solve the mystery in the shows.

Numerous studies have concluded that the content and amount of television programming watched by individuals – especially by children - has a direct result on the behavior of that individual. The behavior affected by television viewing can be anything from a desire for a certain food or material good to violent distemper (Zuckerman 1985.) Recently, more and more woman have given up their traditional role of raising their children opting instead to work during the day and leave their children to take care of themselves. Unfortunately, many children find that spending countless hours in front of the television to be a worthwhile way to entertain themselves. Most parents tell their children never to talk to strangers, but what they fail to realize is that every day their children are subject to the messages and ideas of strangers on the television. In fact, a study concluded that an average American by the age of 18 has spent more time watching television than they have spent in school; this study also went on the state that children spend more time watching television than any other activity besides sleeping. This may explain why an additional study revealed that if a child was told something by his or her parents and then viewed on television something that contradicted what the parents had said, four times out of five the child opted to believe 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.

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 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.

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

Children who watch television shows in which violence is very realistic, frequently repeated or unpunished, are more likely to imitate what they see, ( p.25). Children with emotional, behavioral, or learning problems may be more easily influenced by TV violence (Bandura, 1977). The impact of TV violence may be immediately evident in the child's behavior or may surface later, and young people can even be affected when the family atmosphere shows no tendency toward violence (Cantor & Wilson, 1984). Therefore, while TV violence is not the only cause of aggressive or violent behavior, it is clearly a significant factor. The Good in Television Not all television is bad. There are several excellent programs dedicated to young children. Some programs incorporate entertainment and education to help children learn and identify characters, shapes and colors. Programs such as Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood and Sesame Street also help promote good behavior and cooperation. Dr. Ernest Boyer, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and former US Commissioner of Education, stated: "Television sparks curiosity and opens up distant worlds to children. Through its magic, youngsters can travel to the moon or the bottom of the sea. They can visit castles, take river trips, or explore imaginary lands. . .With selective viewing, television can richly contribute to school readiness." (Chen, p. 122) Unfortunately, most

Television is the mainstream of our culture. Violence on television has been a topic of conflict since before 1950. There have been repeated debates on how to protect children from the harmful effects of violence on television. Television is one form of modern media that influences the everyday lives of people. Televised violence has a major effect on how children perceive the world and how they behave. "American television has become the most violent in the world. It is for this reason why researchers have focused their attention toward television violence" (Cantor & Hoffner 424-4-25). Children enjoy watching television and now with the increased technology of cable and movie

Media is also being tied to the increasing violence in US children. “Children are increasing anti-social and aggressive behavior, become less sensitive to violence and those who suffer from violence, children may view the world as violent and mean fearful of being a victim of violence. Children may desire to see more violence in entertainment and real life, and children will view violence as an acceptable way to settle conflicts.”( Buchanan, A.M., Gentile, D.A., Nelson, D.A.,Walsh, D.A., Hensel, J. 2002) Astonishingly, more time is being spent on watching television then homework which differ from child to child. A child’s interpretation of what they watch depends on of their attention spans, the way in

          Due to violence on television, children become less sensitive to that pain and suffering of others or to become more aggressive to others. It also makes children more fearful to the world around them. (Abelard 1) Viewing habits of children observed for many decades deduced that violence on TV is associated with aggressive behavior, more than poverty, race, or parental behavior. It also reported that a TV show contains about 20 acts of violence an hour.

Over the last forty to fifty years, television has been a major topic of discussion. Specifically, many debate societal benefits to television watching. One widely accepted opinion is that watching TV makes people dumber. People have referred to it with terms like the “idiot box” and do not feel that watching TV has any benefit at all. They feel that it is a waste of time and people need to spend their hours more wisely. Others are of the opinion that TV is actually has societal benefits. From this perspective, they claim that the development of the structure of the programs now requires one to intellectually participate in watching television. Essentially, the argument is whether TV is a beneficial societal force or is it simply a

Television is a big part of today’s society. Everybody watches television, including the children. There is a potential problem with letting children watch television. Ask this question, would someone let their own child watch some of the programming that they watch, too? Some of these programs are intended for the adult generation, not young children. Violence has a major role in television these days. Letting children watch this violence could corrupt their minds and eventually lead to bad behavior. There needs to be a limitation on the types of television programming that parents let their children watch, because violence in television can negatively affect children.