Dana Stevens 'Thinking Outside The Idiot Box'

Sitting on our couches gazing at the television for hours and becoming “couch potatoes” seems to be the most comfortable position these days. We watch television shows like “Jersey Shore” with roommates who get intoxicated, physically intimate, fight, and can’t remember anything the next day and then there’s “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” a large family that grew wealthier due to the media, involving explicit videos, fighting, marriages, etc. It’s very confusing that millions of people and I find these shows quite entertaining, though the shows aren’t relevant to our lives. It may seem that I’m contradicting because I watch these television shows as well, but I wouldn’t say most shows aren’t important because there are channels like the

Makes You Smarter” argues that certain television shows can make you smarter because we will learn how to think critically and analyze certain situations. Johnson says, “Instead of a show’s violent or tawdry content, instead of wardrobe malfunctions or the F-word, the true test should be whether a given show engages or sedates the mind” (Johnson 293). Dana Stevens the author of “Thinking Outside the Idiot Box” says “From the vantage point of someone who watches a hell of a lot of TV (but still far less than the average American), the medium seems neither like a brain-liquefying poison nor a salutary tonic” (Stevens 298). Dana debates with Johnson because of his opinion and poor choice of wording his essay because she believes that television can lack a person’s knowledge and critical

I have a six-year old cousin who’s honestly too smart for her age and who’s also addicted to watching an increasing amount of television. One of her favorite shows are “Family Guy” and I don’t believe a six-year old should be exposed to a television show at that age due to the profanity, exploited images, and comical violence. The show is very popular and humorous to people, but young children shouldn’t be recommended to watch the show. The reason why I wouldn’t recommend the show to young children, because it’s so easy for them to be influenced by the actions of characters and by what they see. There is an essay that I read “Family Guy and Freud: Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious” by Antonia Peacocke that had many reasons why the television show “Family Guy” that pushes the limit of being inappropriate. Peacocke talks about the creator of “Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane, and explains her opinion how the show could be really entertaining and acceptable for television, but then realizes how distasteful and inappropriate it could also be to other viewers who’re watching it. Peacocke says, “Laughing at something so blatantly sexist could cause anyone a pang of guilt, and before I thought more about the show this seemed to be a huge problem” (Peacocke 302). I wouldn’t say Seth MacFarlane is responsible for what a