Brett Clark
Response Essay
2/1/16
College Comp & Research
Does watching TV make people smarter, or does it hinder their intellectual ability? In an article written by Dana Stevens “Thinking Outside the Idiot Box,” she claims that when viewers watch an intellectual show, all they learn to do is how to watch more TV. I believe that watching intelectual TV show and movies is a great way to expand the brain’s thinking and inferring process, certain material may have a negative effect on children, and watching TV in moderation is not bad at all.
In the article, Stevens claims that watching shows like “24” do not make people smarter because of all the commercial breaks. Stevens wrote, “...he breezily dismisses recent controversies about the program's representation of Muslim terrorists or its implicit endorsement of torture…” At a first glance, people might see that she has a point that there is some torture in 24. But on closer inspection, even though there are some brutal scenes that does not change the fact that the show still forces people to think (Stevens par. 3). Stevens simply distracts the reader from the true purpose of the article by throwing a controversial topic in the mix like racism.
Stevens talked about how it is National TV Turnoff Week and how she will try it and see if there is any difference in her neural activity. Stevens refers to “The Simpsons” and says, “... there are a lot of articles out there about what Lisa SImpson would call ‘endumbening’ effect of television viewing.(Stevens par. 5) Later in the paragraph Stevens beings to get very off topic when she is talking about censorship of football in bars or nature shows in airports. While it is true that certain content of television could have an affect on some younger children, it does not follow that whether or not makes people smarter or not. Again, like the “24” reference, she gets off topic talking about another completely irrelevant topic that people feel strongly.
Finally in the last paragraph she begins to state what she believes without getting off topic just to build some fire in people. Stevens said, “... the medium seems neither like a brain liquefying poison nor a salutary tonic.” She goes on to talk about how parents limit their kids to watching a certain amount of TV, people should set similar rules to themselves. (Stevens par. 6) Stevens made the comparison of drinking alcohol at a bar. In small doses TV does not affect the brain in a bad way, but watching too much TV could have detrimental effects on the brain. I wholeheartedly endorse what Stevens is saying about watching TV in moderation. This was the first time in her article she made comparisons that made sense with what she was talking about and she had a clear direction in her thought and conveyed her thoughts in a clear way.
In the article “Thinking Outside the Idiot Box” by Dana Stevens she discusses whether or not watching TV affects the brain. She brings up shows like “24”, “The Sopranos”, and “Starsky and Hutch”. Stevens brings up that all of the shows have an intricate plot line, and foil character which forces the viewers think and draw educated inferences about what will happen next in the show due to as Stevens call them, “cliffhanger endings” (Stevens par. 3). She has some bad connection and reasoning for whether or not TV is good for the brain, but in the end she wraps it all up saying that there is nothing wrong with TV in moderations. I completely agree that too much TV could have bad affects on the brain, but there is nothing wrong with watching TV in smaller moderations.
Work Cited
Stevens, Dana. "Thinking Outside the Idiot Box." They Say I Say With Readings. By Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. Ed. Russel Durst. 2E ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 190-197. Print.295-298.
Response Essay
2/1/16
College Comp & Research
Does watching TV make people smarter, or does it hinder their intellectual ability? In an article written by Dana Stevens “Thinking Outside the Idiot Box,” she claims that when viewers watch an intellectual show, all they learn to do is how to watch more TV. I believe that watching intelectual TV show and movies is a great way to expand the brain’s thinking and inferring process, certain material may have a negative effect on children, and watching TV in moderation is not bad at all.
In the article, Stevens claims that watching shows like “24” do not make people smarter because of all the commercial breaks. Stevens wrote, “...he breezily dismisses recent controversies about the program's representation of Muslim terrorists or its implicit endorsement of torture…” At a first glance, people might see that she has a point that there is some torture in 24. But on closer inspection, even though there are some brutal scenes that does not change the fact that the show still forces people to think (Stevens par. 3). Stevens simply distracts the reader from the true purpose of the article by throwing a controversial topic in the mix like racism.
Stevens talked about how it is National TV Turnoff Week and how she will try it and see if there is any difference in her neural activity. Stevens refers to “The Simpsons” and says, “... there are a lot of articles out there about what Lisa SImpson would call ‘endumbening’ effect of television viewing.(Stevens par. 5) Later in the paragraph Stevens beings to get very off topic when she is talking about censorship of football in bars or nature shows in airports. While it is true that certain content of television could have an affect on some younger children, it does not follow that whether or not makes people smarter or not. Again, like the “24” reference, she gets off topic talking about another completely irrelevant topic that people feel strongly.
Finally in the last paragraph she begins to state what she believes without getting off topic just to build some fire in people. Stevens said, “... the medium seems neither like a brain liquefying poison nor a salutary tonic.” She goes on to talk about how parents limit their kids to watching a certain amount of TV, people should set similar rules to themselves. (Stevens par. 6) Stevens made the comparison of drinking alcohol at a bar. In small doses TV does not affect the brain in a bad way, but watching too much TV could have detrimental effects on the brain. I wholeheartedly endorse what Stevens is saying about watching TV in moderation. This was the first time in her article she made comparisons that made sense with what she was talking about and she had a clear direction in her thought and conveyed her thoughts in a clear way.
In the article “Thinking Outside the Idiot Box” by Dana Stevens she discusses whether or not watching TV affects the brain. She brings up shows like “24”, “The Sopranos”, and “Starsky and Hutch”. Stevens brings up that all of the shows have an intricate plot line, and foil character which forces the viewers think and draw educated inferences about what will happen next in the show due to as Stevens call them, “cliffhanger endings” (Stevens par. 3). She has some bad connection and reasoning for whether or not TV is good for the brain, but in the end she wraps it all up saying that there is nothing wrong with TV in moderations. I completely agree that too much TV could have bad affects on the brain, but there is nothing wrong with watching TV in smaller moderations.
Work Cited
Stevens, Dana. "Thinking Outside the Idiot Box." They Say I Say With Readings. By Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. Ed. Russel Durst. 2E ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 190-197. Print.295-298.