TV Makes you Dumb

Did the title get your attention? I bet it did. I hope it did. I used simple little words so I wouldn't lose you. That's what TV does. I'm going to hit a few quick points, mostly opinions, on why TV makes you dumb. The article title of this blog is a link to a blog article about why TV isn't making us smarter. Click on it when you're done with my thoughts. It's an awesome blog about media being horrible actually. I'm going to link it on the side of our blog as well. The article is long. I know we all don't do long anymore, thanks to TV ... that and I'm a 23 year old hack writer who isn't even a writer. Anyway let's get it going!

Let me start off by saying that TV does some things well. It has a purpose and there are some things that are better off visualized ... if you know what I'm saying. You probably don't, because I'm referring to tying a tie. This example someone gave to me the other day. I'm much better off showing you how to do it than trying to give you written instruction. So TV CAN BE GOOD. I submit that it's best in moderation and for certain reasons though.

Reasons TV is bad include, but by no means are limited too:

1.) It exists to make money (a.k.a. not educate you but rather point you towards advertisements.) Some people may say shows educate us now by being more complex, but are we really learning anything? I think not. They're just trying to throw more information at us since we've become desensitized. I highly doubt the president of CBS wants you to learn more, but I DO KNOW that he wants you sitting there for the next Bud Light commercial.

2.) It takes us away from books. Think about your life. When you watch TV or look at stuff online, think about what gets bumped. Is it hanging out with friends? Maybe. Is it eating? No. It's usually reading. Your response is likely to be something like, well reading is boring and there are no good authors anymore. Yeah, but not really. This most likely just seems to be the case since TV simplifies everything.

It uses a more simple language. It keeps our attention for maybe seven minutes before a commercial. And it throws lots of little things at us. Example - the NFL draft coming up a week from this Saturday. Watch how many things are on the screen at one time. They will have two to three bars scrolling at one time on the screen, someone talking to you, while showing video. All of it teaches me virtually nothing. It says nothing. It shows no concept. Our minds struggle now to focus on one thought or concept for more than seven minutes, or even to understand/use big words.

Big words and thoughts don't keep you watching till commercial. Naked girls, gay people, and controversy do. We need to retrain our minds to think differently.

3.) So much crap is on. Do I really need 70 channels? Yeah maybe I enjoy Extreme Home Makeover on Bravo (I don't even know if it's on Bravo) but do I need a whole Bravo channel? Probably not. Condense it down so I'm not paying for crap. I talked to a guy at my fair tonight. He said that he did the math, with the shows he watches, he spends $9.00 per program he actually watches. It's ridiculous. Condense it for crying out loud.

4.) We're paying for stuff we don't need or want to support. Andrew and I, by having cable before, were technically giving money, albeit small amounts, to MTV. I don't want them to have my money. I haven't watched them in over a year, since I think they're a hypocritcal joke. I don't want to support them. So now they don't get my money.

These are just a few reasons. I've probably left out many more, but I don't need to rail against cable anymore. You get my opinion/point. Just think about what we say here. MTV is garbage, and probably deserve their own blog, and now they're not going to make me more stupid. I'm going to learn to think again. I'm going to pick up a book and read. I'm going to relearn to play guitar. I'm going to get outside and enjoy life. If the cable company decides to be part of Capitlistic America again and compete for my money, maybe I'll give it back. But until you offer me the ability to buy say five channels ... forget it.

We called to cancel the cable, and it's a long story (if you care ask me), and finally the lady laughed at us. She asked what we were going to do. Andrew replied, "Read more. I haven't read much since college." The lady laughed at us.

Well, we're laughing now. We're going to take our 50 bucks, get a good case of beer, and learn to read again. See ya' later Armstrong ... see you later.