Dana Stevens 'Thinking Outside The Idiot Box'

Sitting on our couches gazing at the television for hours and becoming “couch potatoes” seems to be the most comfortable position these days. We watch television shows like “Jersey Shore” with roommates who get intoxicated, physically intimate, fight, and can’t remember anything the next day and then there’s “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” a large family that grew wealthier due to the media, involving explicit videos, fighting, marriages, etc. It’s very confusing that millions of people and I find these shows quite entertaining, though the shows aren’t relevant to our lives. It may seem that I’m contradicting because I watch these television shows as well, but I wouldn’t say most shows aren’t important because there are channels like the

news, history channel, animal channel, and crime shows that contain important facts that we may need to know. Many people may have their differences on whether they believe television is important to increasing our knowledge or unimportant; in my eyes it depends on what you’re watching.
Steve Johnson, the author of “Watching T.V.

Makes You Smarter” argues that certain television shows can make you smarter because we will learn how to think critically and analyze certain situations. Johnson says, “Instead of a show’s violent or tawdry content, instead of wardrobe malfunctions or the F-word, the true test should be whether a given show engages or sedates the mind” (Johnson 293). Dana Stevens the author of “Thinking Outside the Idiot Box” says “From the vantage point of someone who watches a hell of a lot of TV (but still far less than the average American), the medium seems neither like a brain-liquefying poison nor a salutary tonic” (Stevens 298). Dana debates with Johnson because of his opinion and poor choice of wording his essay because she believes that television can lack a person’s knowledge and critical

thinking.
Many shows have escalated to a point where they show so much violence and irrelevant plots on their shows that there’s no point in watching television anymore. But there are shows like crime shows, animal shows, news, etc. that can increase the knowledge of anyone’s mind due to the fact of us thinking about what’s going to happen next. I recently watched a suspenseful show called “Pretty Little Liars” that has so many plots it would be confusing to try to explain them. In his essay Johnson compares the complex shows of today and the complex shows of years ago, because of multi-threading. These shows aren’t beneficial because of us learning the actions of the character’s, it comes from people critically thinking and questioning the situations from the plots.
Dana Stevens goes on about her negative beliefs of people who’re wasting their time watching television in her essay “Thinking Outside The Idiot Box”.

I have a six-year old cousin who’s honestly too smart for her age and who’s also addicted to watching an increasing amount of television. One of her favorite shows are “Family Guy” and I don’t believe a six-year old should be exposed to a television show at that age due to the profanity, exploited images, and comical violence. The show is very popular and humorous to people, but young children shouldn’t be recommended to watch the show. The reason why I wouldn’t recommend the show to young children, because it’s so easy for them to be influenced by the actions of characters and by what they see. There is an essay that I read “Family Guy and Freud: Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious” by Antonia Peacocke that had many reasons why the television show “Family Guy” that pushes the limit of being inappropriate. Peacocke talks about the creator of “Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane, and explains her opinion how the show could be really entertaining and acceptable for television, but then realizes how distasteful and inappropriate it could also be to other viewers who’re watching it. Peacocke says, “Laughing at something so blatantly sexist could cause anyone a pang of guilt, and before I thought more about the show this seemed to be a huge problem” (Peacocke 302). I wouldn’t say Seth MacFarlane is responsible for what a

child is watching and that his show should be dropped off the air because it’s also the parents responsibility, but I think it should be on a different channel where young children can’t get access to it. The show is really funny, but I don’t believe its made for any young child to watch.
Television may have a whole lot of controversy to certain situations. Many people may find it acceptable to watch television on daily basis and some may not find it useful. Dana Stevens Steven Johnson , and Antonia Peacocke are strong debaters when it came to their opinions of television. I believe the authors gave strong ideas on how they felt about those certain shows. Television may not be meant for everyone but it can have some benefits and disadvantages to it. Parents should also be aware of what their child is watching because television can play a big role.