Tv Makes You Smarter

English 103

Short Essay

01 September 2014

Watching TV Makes You Smarter

In the article “Watching TV Makes You Smarter” Steven Johnson talks about how TV shows that people view as negative, actually stimulates our mind positively. Johnson compares shows like Dragnet and Starsky and Hush to shows that were newer like The Sopranos and claims that over time the complexity of shows increased. He even believes that reality shows have a positive effect on our minds like Fear Factor. Television that is viewed negative actually does not stimulate our minds positively. Television does not make you smarter.

Johnson says that even bad TV makes you smarter; he mentions how The Sopranos makes a person have to focus in order to follow the plot of the show (292). The Sopranos is a show based on an Italian-American family from New Jersey. Tony Soprano was a man of many things. He was the head of the household, a crime boss, and working with a psychotherapist. He has two children who he has brought into his mafia lifestyle. Although Johnson can argue that the show makes you think, the sopranos does not make you smarter. The show gives the perception that if you snitch on someone you will get killed. If anything The Sopranos makes you “street smart” rather than “book smart”.

Johnson says “If your kids want to watch reality encourage them to watch Fear Factor” How does Fear Factor make you smarter? Fear Factor is a stunt game reality show where contestants are asked to complete extreme dares. “These shows don't deserve wholesale blame when a senseless teenager sets himself on fire or films himself being hit by a car”. Fear Factor has influenced adolescents to set themselves on fire and record themselves being hit by a car which does not deem as a smart decision.

One of the newest reality shows Love and Hip Hop is no different. This show is based on rappers love life and promotes violence and bickering. Even though the producers claim they do not promote violence, in...