Jordan Duckworth
College Prep English
Summary Response Essay
January 12, 2017
Summary Response
What is one thing that almost every american has and usually spends a few hours a day using it? The Television. There has always been controversy surrounding some aspect of Television, but one of the more famous controversies is whether TV is "dumbing" us down. Ask anyone who binge watches “Grey’s Anatomy” and they will think they are a step away from starting their residency. Ask anyone who binge watches “NCIS” and they will think they should help their local police solve cases. There is no doubt that Television influences us every time we watch it but is this good or bad? In an article by Steven Johnson titled: “Watching TV Makes You Smarter” he discusses whether it is indeed good or bad. Johnson’s article is effective on his topics about shows evolving and require higher cognitive function thus making us smarter even the shows that aren't at the top of the charts.
In this article, Johnson describes how due to modern television shows and their increasingly complex episodes, tv is actually increasing our cognitive abilities. He says, “You have to focus to follow the plot, and in focusing you're exercising the parts of your brain that map social networks, that fill in missing information, that connect multiple narrative threads.” about some recent shows (qtd. In Johnson Par. 56). He frequently uses comparisons between newer shows and older shows by talking about the amount of plot lines they have, and the complexity of said plot lines. Older shows had one plot line that started at the beginning of every episode, and was usually resolved at the end, but newer shows have multiple plot lines for each main character that traverse several episodes or even seasons. To summarize the article, even though modern shows are a lot more graphic, they require more engagement and thinking to keep up with thus increasing our cognitive skills.
Johnson advises that we look deeper into the shows and look past some of the graphic themes. Johnson says that, “Beneath the violence and the ethnic stereotypes, another trend appears: to keep up with entertainment like "24," you have to pay attention, make inferences, track shifting social relationships.” (Qtd in Johnson Par. 35) Today it's easy hear of a shows faults before the things it did good. Even the best shows will be described with several “buts”. Johnson is saying that we should look past this for the cognitive benefits. While, yes, these shows may have a lot of violence, the violence almost always has a reason and one may not know the reason unless they actually focus on a character’s personality and relationships with others.
Like almost everything generations before us say that TV was “better back in the day”. This is not true at all, in any way. Johnson agrees with this and makes the point, “When people talk about the golden age of television in the early 70's -- invoking shows like "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "All in the Family" (qtd in Johnson Par. 63) -- they forget to mention how awful most television programming was during much of that decade.” Even though these shows may have had “better values”, which isn't true unless someone support the racist undertones that a lot of shows low-key had back in that day. That's a different point though. These shows basically told the audience what was going to happen at the beginning of each episode, especially the cop dramas and the plot was always wrapped up at the end but that is not the case now.
In modern times shows are often judged by critics that just glance at the show and only watch a few episodes. These shows often have several plots for each character that can last over a season long and each character has complex relationships. Steven Johnson can see the complexity of these shows and he sees the benefits, in his article “ Watching TV Makes You Smarter” he is very effective at communicating that shows have changed over time and they have changed to the point of being so complex they actually increase cognitive abilities.
Works Cited
Johnson, Steven. "Watching TV Makes You Smarter." New York Times. N.p., 24 Apr. 2005. Web. 17 Jan. 2017.
College Prep English
Summary Response Essay
January 12, 2017
Summary Response
What is one thing that almost every american has and usually spends a few hours a day using it? The Television. There has always been controversy surrounding some aspect of Television, but one of the more famous controversies is whether TV is "dumbing" us down. Ask anyone who binge watches “Grey’s Anatomy” and they will think they are a step away from starting their residency. Ask anyone who binge watches “NCIS” and they will think they should help their local police solve cases. There is no doubt that Television influences us every time we watch it but is this good or bad? In an article by Steven Johnson titled: “Watching TV Makes You Smarter” he discusses whether it is indeed good or bad. Johnson’s article is effective on his topics about shows evolving and require higher cognitive function thus making us smarter even the shows that aren't at the top of the charts.
In this article, Johnson describes how due to modern television shows and their increasingly complex episodes, tv is actually increasing our cognitive abilities. He says, “You have to focus to follow the plot, and in focusing you're exercising the parts of your brain that map social networks, that fill in missing information, that connect multiple narrative threads.” about some recent shows (qtd. In Johnson Par. 56). He frequently uses comparisons between newer shows and older shows by talking about the amount of plot lines they have, and the complexity of said plot lines. Older shows had one plot line that started at the beginning of every episode, and was usually resolved at the end, but newer shows have multiple plot lines for each main character that traverse several episodes or even seasons. To summarize the article, even though modern shows are a lot more graphic, they require more engagement and thinking to keep up with thus increasing our cognitive skills.
Johnson advises that we look deeper into the shows and look past some of the graphic themes. Johnson says that, “Beneath the violence and the ethnic stereotypes, another trend appears: to keep up with entertainment like "24," you have to pay attention, make inferences, track shifting social relationships.” (Qtd in Johnson Par. 35) Today it's easy hear of a shows faults before the things it did good. Even the best shows will be described with several “buts”. Johnson is saying that we should look past this for the cognitive benefits. While, yes, these shows may have a lot of violence, the violence almost always has a reason and one may not know the reason unless they actually focus on a character’s personality and relationships with others.
Like almost everything generations before us say that TV was “better back in the day”. This is not true at all, in any way. Johnson agrees with this and makes the point, “When people talk about the golden age of television in the early 70's -- invoking shows like "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "All in the Family" (qtd in Johnson Par. 63) -- they forget to mention how awful most television programming was during much of that decade.” Even though these shows may have had “better values”, which isn't true unless someone support the racist undertones that a lot of shows low-key had back in that day. That's a different point though. These shows basically told the audience what was going to happen at the beginning of each episode, especially the cop dramas and the plot was always wrapped up at the end but that is not the case now.
In modern times shows are often judged by critics that just glance at the show and only watch a few episodes. These shows often have several plots for each character that can last over a season long and each character has complex relationships. Steven Johnson can see the complexity of these shows and he sees the benefits, in his article “ Watching TV Makes You Smarter” he is very effective at communicating that shows have changed over time and they have changed to the point of being so complex they actually increase cognitive abilities.
Works Cited
Johnson, Steven. "Watching TV Makes You Smarter." New York Times. N.p., 24 Apr. 2005. Web. 17 Jan. 2017.