TV Does Not Damage Is television detrimental to the human brain? Should humans turn off the television indefinitely? Dana Stevens, author of “Thinking Outside the Idiot Box,” would answer these questions with a definite yes. In Steven’s article, she disagrees with Steven Johnson, who wrote an article stating that television makes humans smarter. I disagree with Stevens when she illustrates that television advertisements are harmful to the viewer and that skills learned from watching television can not transfer into other aspects of life; moreover, I agree with his belief that children should not have access to television for a week, but I disagree with his belief that children should not have television at all. A central argument Stevens makes in her article is that television introduces harmful information into the brains of the viewer. According to Stevens, “Not only does Johnson fail to account for the impact of 16 minutes worth of commercials that interrupt any given episode of, say, 24” (296). In other words, Stevens believes that the commercials that interrupt the show negatively affect the viewers. I disagree with this statement because advertisements are ubiquitous. A commercial will not atrophy the brain anymore than a billboard would. Depending on the subject matter, a television advertisement has the potential to be informative. For instance, if a commercial about a new technology came on the television, then the viewer would be more informed about that technology. However, deciding if commercials makes a person smarter or not depends on what one considers smart-- commercials certainly inform the viewers. Being informed about all subjects is certainly expanding an education. Whether a commercial informs the viewer or not depends of the subject matter; however, the viewer's brain will not diminish because of one.Stevens goes on to explain that a television show does not train the viewer's mind how to think about real-life problems. She states, “It’s [24] really good at teaching you to think . . . about future episodes of 24” (296). Stevens is saying that the process of thinking used to follow and understand a television show can not be transferred into other aspects of life. I, however, disagree with his statement because there are many skills that are learned in life that can be transferred into other situations. For example, a student in math class is not taught the rigors of using the quadratic formula because he or she is not actually going to use that skill in life-- although some might. A math student is actually learning how to problem solve in the most effective way possible. For him to think that the thinking process that is learned during a television show is only useful for that television show is ludicrous. I would suggest to Stevens to tell a math teacher that the skills math teaches can only be used in math. Moreover, problem solving skills used when watching tv certainly have the ability to transfer into other subject. Finally, Stevens goes on to boldly express his feeling that a child would benefit from a childhood lacking television completely. Stevens herself writes, “certainly for young children, who are fresh meat for the advertising industry, the idea of a week (or an entire childhood) without TV makes a lot of sense” (298). Although, I do agree that a week without television can certainly be beneficial-- like enjoying the outdoors-- I disagree with the part of his statement that suggest a child should leave television out of his or her childhood entirely. Television has come a long way since Starsky and Hutch; Today there are shows that are built for education. Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters is a show literally dedicated to science. As well as shows like Cosmos and channels like the History Channel are dedicated to education. For Stevens to suggest that children should grow up without television is an uneducated, uninformed statement. In Dana Stevens article, “Thinking Outside the Idiot Box,” she delves into the discussion of whether or not television makes human beings smarter. I disagree with her claim that commercials damage one's intelligence, that skills learned when watching tv can not transfer into real-life events, and that children should grow up without a television; However, I agree that children should turn off the television for a week. There is no denying that television has become more popular in the twenty-first century. Does television make one stupid? Or does television make one smarter? Regardless of either side's argument, questions like these will occur for as long as television exist in the world’s ever developing society.
Works Cited Dana Stevens. "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. 295-298. Print