Television/Smarter
Watching TV Makes You Smarter -- Really?
A number of television programs of today are praised for their grittiness and realism. It is true that dramas such as Law and Order draw from real-life events, particularly ones whose circumstances and outcomes are controversial. Compared to the idealized families of Father Knows Best and The Brady Bunch, shows such as Modern Family portray likeable but flawed human beings whose problems are not necessarily solved in the time frame of an episode or two. The argument that today's television is "better" is a complex one. It begs the question: "Better for whom?" Story lines may indeed be a more accurate reflection of life in the twenty-first century. Characters are more realistic in that they represent a wider demographic than characters of even a generation ago; African-Americans, Latinos and Asians are more prominently featured, women are seen in roles requiring them to be strong rather than purely decorative, and sexual orientation is openly discussed. For these reasons, television programming is richer than in past generations. To argue, however, that the richer programming is actually good for cognition is an argument made by those who benefit financially from the making of such programs, and by viewers who want to justify their television-watching habits.
Author Steven Johnson argues that watching today's television programs can make one smarter. In an essay included in his 2005 book Everything Bad is Good for You, Johnson claims that the multi-thread scripts of programs such as 24 challenge the viewer to follow complex plot lines and character development. The process of synthesizing and sense-making, Johnson maintains, provide an effective "brain...
Television The history of television is at once familiar and unexpected, in that television, like every new medium, experienced a time when it was simultaneously written off as a fad and hailed as a world-changing wave of the future. The truth was somewhat more nuanced, because although television did change the world in serious, wide-ranging ways, it did not do so in the way many early critics and theorists suspected. By
Television in Australia Television itself was quite an invention and made significant changes all around the world. It became common in the United Kingdom and the United States by the end of the Second World War. The American system basically had the commercial system in which government interference wasn't so pronounced. On the other hand, the British system was more government owned and dominated by BBC. The television in Australia has
An article published in 2002 in the Journal of Communication further explored television's impact on marriage. In their study, 285 never married college students were interviewed about their idealistic marriage expectations. In the vast majority of those interviewed, their marriage preferences were based upon television shows, such as soap operas and romantic comedies. It should go without saying that this notion is appalling. In an age where divorce is at
Television Audience Television viewing has become a very common thing in the entire world today. In fact, Television viewing is perceived to be having the largest audience as compared to any other forms of media. In the current media ecosystem the content in televisions is distributed through various platforms such as wed, TDT, mobiles and so on. This has provided an increased level of interactivity that has led to an increase
Television's Depiction Of American Family In The 1950s And 1960s Television depiction of the American family in the 1950s and early 1960s Television has for many years shaped the American society depending on the prevailing circumstances at that time. Ordinarily it is expected that television as a form of art would mimic the real life, but this has not always been true across the eras since at some point, television shaped and
In terms of a feature film like the Spiderman series, there is much revenue to be generated from merchandise, DVD and video sales, tie-in promotions from companies like McDonalds, and spin-off video games. Therefore, the stakes are higher. A feature film producer who has been granted a 200 million dollar budget had better deliver an audience, and deliver it in spades. A telemovie producer, however, working much faster with
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