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Does Watching Tv Make You Smarter By Steven Johnson Analysis

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Does Watching TV Actually Make You Smarter? In America, television takes up a large portion of people's lives, spending hour’s binge watching all types of different shows. Many people believe that watching these shows makes them unintelligent, but Steven Johnson assumes otherwise. In Johnson’s “Watching TV Makes You Smarter”, he gives readers a new perspective of television. Johnson argues that television has developed over the years and requires more cognitive demand in today's shows. Johnson does this by comparing and contrasting different shows and breaking them down to the core to review the context and different plots. The argument he makes about television in his thesis is very strong when he mentions that the culture of television is getting more cognitively demanding than less. Although television is inherently intellectual, society is craving television shows that require more and more cognitively demanding thinking, it requires one to be in touch with real world references, it increases social interaction, and different plot …show more content…

“Over the proceeding weeks, a number of public controversies had erupted around 24, mostly focused on its portrait of schools from terrorist him it’s a penchant for torture scenes.”(Johnson 278). Had one not been updating on current events they would have no clue why they are being so bias against them and what happened to make them feel this way. For many shows it is the same, one has to know what has been going on in current events to catch a joke or a witty punchline. Otherwise, it would go out of one ear and out of the other simply because they are not up to date with popular culture. In shows like Family Guy, they oftentimes make fun of firsthand reactions especially in things like Ebola or terrorist activities. If one was not into popular culture references, these shows can be very

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David Charpentier’s essay Story or Spectacle? Why Television Is Better Than the Movies discusses Charpentier’s preference for watching television over film. Charpentier strongly supports his opinion throughout the essay with multiple reasons why by comparing popular television shows and movies. Television shows have better character development, are able to have multiple sub plots and leave room for space and time between each episode. Charpentier argues that television shows allow you to better get to know the characters, rather than if you were watching a two hour film.

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However, Peacocke fails to recognize that Family Guy airs tamed comedy for entertainment by demonstrating how many elements that are portrayed on the show exists in our society today without intentionally hurting its viewers.

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In today’s world, besides books and other types of literature, television shows are also sources rich of complex content that forces us to analyze it to gain a deeper perspective. Over the decades television shows have evolved and become more complex as generations passed. In Everything Bad is Good for You by Steven Johnson, Steven Johnson supports the idea that TV shows have a complex structure that involve three elements: multiple threading, flashing arrows, and social networks. However, unlike older shows, more modern shows display a more in depth version of this structure forcing the viewer to analyze the program or series they watch more in order to fully grasp the message the show tries to present. A comparison that explicitly shows the

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Steven Johnson’s “Watching TV Makes You Smart” exhibits a diversity of structure and technical devices to prove the Sleeper Curve theory, because a box that contains motion pictures pleasurably teaches young viewers and adults by challenging them intellectually. Johnson presents shows like 24, which brings forth multi-threading, and others like Hill Street Blues and The Sopranos, which urges viewers to scrutinize the ambiguous plots to fully understand not only the current episode, but to connect them as a whole. Johnson argues that “before Hill Street, the conventional wisdom among television execs was that audiences wouldn’t be comfortable following more than three plots in a single episode” (280). Additionally, people try to find different

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The flaw in Ehrenreich’s argument about the eeriness in the lack of real life scenarios on television is that television was crafted for people to escape their reality. The example of a person watching another person watching television on a tv show is fatuous. In reality the stunts that are portrayed in those shows can not be done, but seeing them be performed on tv allows for individuals to release the urges to replicate them in real life. The plots of the stories serve as a form of art that is reflected onto tv and can be interpreted an unlimited amount of ways .

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The Overuse of Television Kameron G Loyd BYU-Idaho  During an average week, how much television does the average child watch? Parents, educators, and concerned citizens alike would be appalled at the answer of 1,480 minutes (BLS American Time Use Survey, A.C. Nielsen Co.). They would also be revolted by the statistic that 54% of four to six year olds would rather spend time watching television instead of spending time with their fathers (BLS American Time Use Survey, A.C. Nielsen Co.). In 1984, Neil Postman saw how devastating television watching was becoming to the culture of America, and gave a speech to the literary community at the 1984 Frankfort Germany Book Fair entitled “Amusing Ourselves to Death” which deals directly with this monolithic issue. Although the speech and subsequent article, published in Et Cetra, were directed at the publishers, writers, illustrators, etc., all those who read this article can also benefit from Postman’s overarching desire to decrease the hours of mind-numbing television watching.

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Every new tool shapes the way we think, but does this change make us more intelligent? Carr claimed that his reading comprehension decreases the more he accesses the Internet. He supports his claim by admitting “the deep reading that used to come naturally had become a struggle” (Carr 314). He states that not only him, but his friends also, have the same problem of not being able to concentrate reading a book or lengthy articles and will often “get fidgety, lose the thread, [and] begin looking for something else to do” (Carr 314). Carr feels the time he spends online is rewiring his brain, unable to “think the way [he] used to think” (Carr 313).

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Price tells the reader how television is bad: “Many young Americans have had their native fantasy life removed and replaced by the imaginations of the producers of American television and video games” (Price). A lot of the youth have spent so much time watching television, or playing video games that all they know is what they’ve been shown through the tv screen. People need to be able to have their own imagination, and not have their life based off of what they watch on

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In Call of the Wild by Jack London, London suggests that if someone is throw a soft civilized creature into the wild and he survives, he, like Buck, will come to depend on the same instincts that guided the life of his primitive ancestors. Buck is a spoiled dog that came from a mansion. He was randomly thrown into the wild, and had to adapt to a new way of life and learn of to survive on his own. Buck shows primitive instincts including, kill vs. kill, starvation, and how to survive on his own. Dogs have many primitive instincts, including kill vs. kill.

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In conclusion, although many people believe new forms of electronic media are harmful to people’s intelligence, Steven Pinker thinks otherwise. He successfully proves this by bringing up many counterarguments and disproving them as well as having very trustworthy credentials. That being said, he also thinks it is important to practice self control to avoid becoming too distracted with these new forms of media and

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In 1950, about 3.8 million American households had a television, as of December 2022, that number has skyrocketed to 122.4 million. We all know about tv, it sits in our living rooms and we watch every once in a while when an actual decent show comes on, but you may not know how influential television has been in our lives. Our social norms and the way we act have all been influenced by what we watch on the big screen. The people we watch in shows and movies become our role models and who we aspire to be. Throughout its years, television has been used as a platform of change and helps bring awareness to different issues.

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The article “Mind Over Mass Media”, written by Professor Steven Pinker, describes the impact of media on human lives and brains. Pinker illustrates the benefits people gain from using the worlds quickly increasing technology and media. Pinker suggests that today’s technology such as, PowerPoint, Google, and other forms of social media can actually enhance and bring more intelligence to the mind, instead of being detrimental. Critics believe that the many different forms of media can lower intelligence. However, Pinker declares that scientists are using all of this technology everyone else is using, and are still discovering new things.

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The show strives to expose all the preconceived notions and beliefs society has put in place and mocks ALL stereotypes. The show portrays both low and high culture in general and makes fun of them, but at the same time does not encourage it. Most people who watch Family Guy can relate strongly. That’s because the show acts like a mirror and we the audience are forced to take a look at ourselves, but at the same time providing amusement and humor for the reflection.

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Peter Weller once stated, “Television is an isolating experience, sadly enough. But as good as it ever gets, it’s still isolating. You sit in your home and visit with no one.” Staring into the television screen, zoned out and mesmerized, our minds are living the life of the characters in the movie or TV show. In today’s society, people obsess over there shows instead of there family, friends, and children.

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1. Introduction Today television plays a big role in many people’s life, especially for children. It is hard to imagine a world without television. Thanks to the development of technology, television is invented, and considered as a great medium that provokes imagination, encourages education, and entertains the children around the world. Television can also be a beefy influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior (Bee, 1998).

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