How Tv Makes You Smarter - 1532 Words

How television is making people smarted. 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, â€Å"Watching TV Makes You Smarter† Johnson states that; For decades, weve 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†¦show more content†¦The arena of advertising is also another common target for the show. In an episode mimicking the Super bowl it becomes clear that companies, especially the beer companies capitalize on the event (Rushkoff 249). Rushkoff believes that as The Simpsons sends ou t messages showing how people can be manipulated that they will become more aware that; they will be able to watch something or see an advertisement and really look at it critically- questioning its intentions and the quality of the information. The Simpsons is a great example of how some Television shows are diverting from the typical path of hypnotizing their viewers and are instead embracing dialogue that helps society become more cynical of television today. Quoting from his article Johnson says, â€Å"What I am arguing for is a change in the criteria we use to determine what really cognitive junk food is and what is genuinely nourishing.† In a statement made by Graff in â€Å"Hidden Intellectualism†; â€Å"What doesn’t occur to us, though, is that schools and colleges might be at fault for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into good academic work. Nor do we consider one of the major reasons why school and colleges overlook the intellectual potential of street smarts with anti-intellectual concerns.† I think that Johnson would completely agree with Graff’s statement and would back it up with research of his own. He would agree that societyShow MoreRelatedCan Tv Be Making You Smarter?1444 Words   |  6 Pages Can Tv be Making You Smarter In Steven Johnson’s â€Å"Watching TV Makes You Smarter†, he argues the growing complexities of contemporary TV shows through time. Johnson explains, because of the developing intricacy of TV plot lines people are having to spend more time paying attention to the TV episodes. To show this, Johnson compared shows from the past and more recent shows to  display how on screen intelligence and off screen intelligence of shows have developed to become more challenging and realisticRead MoreWatching Tv Makes You Smart Essay1218 Words   |  5 PagesIn the article  Watching TV Makes You Smarter  by Steven Johnson, the author argues that by watching television shows various television shows, people actually become smarter and how it has a big impact in our lives. He feels that watching TV makes us smarter because why we view things we might have never heard of before. He also uses dialogs to explain for example he used dialogs from the show ER to break down whatâ€℠¢s happening between the characters, what words and sentences there using. On responseRead MoreThinking Outside the Idiot Box by Dana Stevens vs. â€Å"Watching TV Makes You Smarter† by Steven Johnson1125 Words   |  5 PagesEnglish Comp I Kayal 11/5/13 TV Does Not Make You Smarter 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 exorbitantRead MoreDoes Television Make Use Dumber? Essay535 Words   |  3 Pagesalong with making viewers dumber. Johnson’s Watching TV Makes You Smarter and Stevens’s Thinking Outside The Idiot Box have near opposite positions on the issue of television, both describing what they feel is the right answer when it comes to television and society. Throughout Steven Johnson’s Watching TV Makes You Smarter, he compares hit TV shows like Dragnet and Starsky and Hutch to that of more recent shows like The Sopranos. He explains how early television follow a strict linear narrativeRead MoreEssay on A TV Education1326 Words   |  6 PagesA TV Education â€Å"For decades, we’ve worked under the assumption that mass culture follows a path declining steadily toward lowest common-denominator standards, presumably because the â€Å"masses† want dumb† (Johnson 214).But do the masses actually want to get the opposite out of their TV programming? Steven Johnson author of Mind Wide Open: Your brain and the neuroscience of everyday life and five other books thinks that they do and has done much research to try and prove that watching TV may actuallyRead MoreTv Makes You Smarter Essay1430 Words   |  6 PagesTV Makes You Smarter Everyday people watch some level of television. Whether it is the news, sports, a movie or a reality show, it is a pastime that people look forward to and/or come to rely on in their daily routine. There are some programs that have a lot of violence and perhaps should be watched minimally or by an appropriately aged audience.   However, there are many other programs that do not have violence and actually educate us, working subconsciously, without us even knowing it. For thisRead MoreWatching Tv Makes You Smarter, By Steven Johnson898 Words   |  4 Pagesnot for many different reasons. In the first article â€Å"Watching TV Makes You Smarter, Steven Johnson argues why and how television can make you smarter. In another article, â€Å"Thinking Outside the Idiot Box, Dana Stevens contradicts everything Steven Johnson said in his article about television making people more intelligent. Steven Johnson s argument is that television can actually make you smarter because when you watch a show, you are trying to understand everything that is happening. Today’sRead MoreWatching Tv Makes You Smarter, By Steven Johnson872 Words   |  4 PagesIn the article â€Å"Watching TV Makes You Smarter, Steven Johnson argues why and how television can make you smarter. In another article, â€Å"Thinking Outside the Idiot Box, Dana Stevens contradicts everything Steven Johnson said in his article about television making people more intelligent. Steven Johnson s argument is that television can actually make you smarter because when you watch a show, you are trying to understand everything that is happening. Today’s shows have a lot of action and scenesRead MoreWatching Tv Makes You Smarter967 Words   |  4 PagesWatching TV Makes You Smarter In his essay â€Å"Watching TV Makes You Smarter, Steven Johnson - an author specializing in media, pop culture and technology - claims that watching TV is actually healthy for the viewers mind as contemporary television requires more cognitive thinking than it did previously. Johnson supported his claim by explaining about his sleeper curve throughout the essay. â€Å"The most debased forms of mass diversion – video games, violent television dramas and juvenile sitcoms thatRead MoreWatching Tv Is Not So Bad969 Words   |  4 Pages Do you enjoy spending your nights off work laying on the couch binge-watching your favorite show on Netflix? I know I do. Things such as â€Å"binge-watching† and â€Å"marathoning† TV series is becoming more and more socially acceptable in our day and age but there are still many people who hold the beliefs that watching TV makes you dumb, and who say things like â€Å"you should find something useful to do with your time.† Because to them, watching TV has no benefits to it at all. But what if there were actually