vidro

Television is major component of American culture. A household without one is a rarity. Even those who forgo owning a television often keep up with shows on websites such as Hulu. For over fifty years, they have been watched by people looking to escape their own lives and watch and enjoy the lives of others in the television. However, television has a bad reputation for turning brains to mush and dumbing down its content for the lowest common denominator. Television may not be as problematic as it is made out to be.
In Steven Johnson’s article “Watching TV Makes You Smarter,” he asserts that televisions are beneficial to the development of cognitive reasoning skills. Shows with complex story lines and multiple plots within one episode encourage viewers to pay attention and make sense of what is happening on the screen. He uses the example of the show 24, in which there are twenty-one characters with arcs and nine narrative threads within forty-four minutes. He argues that television programs are becoming more stimulating, not less, as many would have you believe. Moral clarity rather than quality is going down in television: antiheros are becoming more prevalent and morals are becoming darker. This is making television more ambiguous and hence more interesting for a variety of viewers.
On the other hand, Dana Stevens argues in “Thinking outside the Idiot Box” that even the most intellectually stimulating shows only teach viewers to watch more television. The complex plots and characters only prepare us for more plots and characters on the television, and hence have no real life benefits. In response to Johnson’s claims that 24 is enlightening viewers to social relationships, Stevens discusses the endorsement of torture and the...

... middle of paper ...

...e compared, it is easy to see that complexity has been on a steady rise for decades, and that the average viewer now becomes bored with the simplicity of earlier shows. Stevens disputes this, saying that personally she still prefers old shows. This is single person’s preference, and specifically a person who has been making personal attacks at Johnson. Her preference is easy to disregard after noticing her inherent bias.
In conclusion, television is not inherently good or bad. Both authors admit that there are excellent shows and bad shows. It is about what you watch and why: watching a sitcom because you find it funny is fine. Watching 24 because you find it interesting and controversial is fine. It is important to allow people to make their own choices, because without that choice the world would be a whole lot duller. Respect other’s choices and enjoy your own.