Thinking Outside the Idiot Box

Kartik Prabhakar

Prof. Corey Williams

English 114A

10 November 2011

Thinking Outside the Idiot Box

In this essay Dana Stevens, the author, has written on an article she recently read about how TV makes the watcher smarter, and questions the article. She starts by explaining how Steven Johnson, the author of the original article, says that because of the complicated story lines the viewers are now able to differentiate between many things and analyze situation in real life better. According to Dana Stevens, that statement is false. She believes that the TV we watch now-a-days is what is causing us to become vegetables. She states shows like, “…Teletubbies… [Is] instructing toddlers in the basics of vegging out” (Graff 231). Dana Stevens takes it a step further and emphasizes that normal Americans do not think of the lessons they have just learned after watching a TV-show, they simply think about the next episode and what excitement that will hold for them. She questions Steven Johnson on his take of the “TV Turnoff Week,” saying that there are fine lines when it comes down to judging what people are watching.

Personally, I believe that both Dana Stevens and Steven Johnson were correct in their analysis of television. In today’s day we are watching television and analyzing a lot of situations at the same time, but does any one person actually grab the “moral of the story?” Personally I believe that people are, subconsciously picking up tools on how to look at more than one thing, or how to put things together; however I also believe that Dana Stevens is correct when she states that people only think about the next episode because, even though I know there is a moral to all the television shows I watch, I am always excited to see what happens next on the show. If that was not the case, people would stop watching that show and actors would no longer have any jobs. Also,Teletubbies helps children develop. It teaches them to eat all of their food, to clean up after themselves, to always play nice with friends, and that sometimes the fun has to end. The evidence given by Dana Stevens was very compelling. It was thought out and well written. The only problem I have with this is when Dana Stevens states that older TV is better than new TV. I think that depends on who is writing the essay and that is a very opinionated thing to say because if you ask an older person what they like best about technology, they might say nothing, but the newer generation would have many things to say about technology today and the benefits that it posses.

Works Cited

Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel K. Durst. “They Say/I Say”: the Moves That Matter in Academic Writing : with Readings. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2009. Print.

--K