Watching Tv Makes You Smarter - 1392 Words

Everyday people are shown what has been referred to as an idiot box, boob tube, or â€Å"telly†, but more familiarly known as T.V. There is something available on T.V. for almost all types of viewers. There are cartoons for children, shows for seniors, daytime series for housewives, wildlife programs for nature enthusiasts, and the list is endless. The question is, is watching T.V. helping or hurting us? While some people argue that watching television is counter-productive, stimulating and interesting shows may actually be benefitting an individual’s knowledge. In â€Å"Watching TV Makes You Smarter† Steven Johnson argues that reality and informative television affects people in positive ways and that the idea of television making us brain dead is†¦show more content†¦The author sheds light on the idea that younger generations are affected in a positive way when they watch reality T.V. While viewers are engaged watching a show, they learn to think criti cally and analyze environments and situations. Johnson discusses that in watching these shows, even reality TV for example, â€Å"kids are forced to think like grown-ups: analyzing complex social networks, managing resources, tracking subtle narrative intertwining’s, recognizing long-term patterns†(Johnson 294). I believe this could be a positive impact, but could also have some negative outcomes. Johnson believes that even bad T.V. is good T.V. because it teaches real world situations. This is where I believe the negative impact of the exposure of T.V. comes into play, because shows with high levels of violence could lead to the viewer reenacting the seen behavior; this goes for not only violence but other things as well. He also refers to a show that he considers nourishing; the finished series of 24, that â€Å"you have to pay attention, make inferences, track shifting social relationships† (Johnson 279). The benefit of these shows does not come from learnin g and following the characters’ actions; it comes from thinking and questioning situations. Studies done by Matthew Gentzkow, an assistant professor of economics at the university s graduate school of business, and Jesse M. Shapiro conducted a study collecting data from cities where preschoolers were exposed to