Originally posted by: lordjedi
Except that when I turn on Discovery, History, or the Military channel, I don't just turn off my brain. I pay just as much attention to the History channel as I do to an episode of Heroes. Example, History was running a series called "The States". They covered Texas and explained why it's the "Lone Star State". The explanation I'd always heard is that they had something written into the Constitution that would allow them to secede if they wanted to. According to THC, it's because they went from being part of Mexico, to being an independent nation, to becoming a State. Pretty interesting stuff.
Originally posted by: JediSage
Discovery and History, and Military, and all in that class make up a small minority of the available content (and let's be honest, American Chopper???). Think about what you're doing when you're watching tv..you slip into that receptive mode where all you do is soak up what's being sent to you. If you watched nothing but Masterpiece Theater (or something "educational") all day then I would say at least your content was good, but you're still just totally switching off your brain when in front of the tube.
Discovery and History, and Military, and all in that class make up a small minority of the available content (and let's be honest, American Chopper???). Think about what you're doing when you're watching tv..you slip into that receptive mode where all you do is soak up what's being sent to you. If you watched nothing but Masterpiece Theater (or something "educational") all day then I would say at least your content was good, but you're still just totally switching off your brain when in front of the tube.
Except that when I turn on Discovery, History, or the Military channel, I don't just turn off my brain. I pay just as much attention to the History channel as I do to an episode of Heroes. Example, History was running a series called "The States". They covered Texas and explained why it's the "Lone Star State". The explanation I'd always heard is that they had something written into the Constitution that would allow them to secede if they wanted to. According to THC, it's because they went from being part of Mexico, to being an independent nation, to becoming a State. Pretty interesting stuff.
I'm not denying that things can be learned while watching tv. I've long believed that the people (myself included) who make the argument that television has a negative influence over children, etc cannot then say that tv can be beneficial.
HOWEVER, it takes more work by miles to read a book than it does to watch tv. If someone reads Dracula they have to imagine the people saying the words, and they have to imagine the castle. In TV all the work's being done for me.