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Watching TV Makes You Smarter

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If you were told that TV makes the human brain smarter, would you agree? The vast majority of society would probably argue that TV doesn’t provide any positive benefits for the brain. Recently, studies done by Steven Johnson, popular science author and media theorist, say that watching TV increases a person’s cognitive intellect. In 2005, The New York Times Magazine published Johnson’s article, “Watching TV Makes You Smarter”, and argues that TV is more of a brain workout, rather than entertainment. Johnson’s main argument in the article is the Sleeper Curve Theory: “the most debased forms of mass diversion – video games and violent television dramas and juvenile sitcoms – turn out to be nutritional after all” (Johnson 2). Our society is under the assumption that TV programming has no positive benefits, but what they don’t realize is the cognitive thinking that your mind goes through to keep up with a certain television show, video game, or movie. An audience is required to make inferences on what is happening in a show or game and go from scene to scene while remembering what had happened 30 minutes ago in the same show. This concept may seem easy, but an audience is naturally accustomed to processing information in this fashion. Johnson provides an easier way to grasp this concept by comparing the benefits gained through television to the benefits gained through reading: attention, patience, …show more content…

After pointing out different ways that our media has had a positive effect on the brain, Johnson is not arguing that we should have a care-free attitude when it comes to what type of entertainment we place in front of us, but arguing that our society needs to change its outlook on what type of entertainment is trivia for our well-being and what type of entertainment positively influences our cognitive

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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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Anderson repetitively informs the audience about how accessible the “stupid games” have gotten. “Today it has been downloaded… equipment for kids,” (Anderson 107). It is clear that the journalist was prepared to disclose any facts that he had to help back up his claim on the effects that video games have on society, as well as how accessible the video games have gotten in the past few years. Although Chabon does the exact same thing for his audience, he provides more vivid details about the declining sales of comic books. “But the strange counter-phenomenon to this indisputable… neighborhood of 80 million today),” (Anderson 916).

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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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