Summary

Television has come a long way since it was first introduced. Originally, it was thought that the masses that watch television enjoyed the more simple shows that would tell you exactly what was going on from start to finish. In Steven Johnson’s article, “Watching TV Makes You Smarter”, Johnson argues that this is actually not the case. In fact, Johnson argues that much more people enjoy shows that involve multi threading, or multiple plots that are all connected.
One of the first points that Johnson brings up is Multi Threading. Since the early 2000’s, many shows have taken advantage of this device. Shows such as “The Sopranos”, “24”, and “Lost” all take advantage of multi threading. Just to prove the point that this is what the people want, all three of these shows were very popular. In fact, they all lasted for at least 6 seasons each, with “24” going for 8 seasons. The idea of multi threading is to create multiple plots all going on in a single episode. Yet, at the end of the episode usually all of the plots become tied into each other. This causes the viewer to think ahead of time. It leaves you wondering what is going to happen later in the episode, or even what could happen down the line. Often, so many subtle things are said that the viewer may not even realize what was said or done was important until an event occurs.
Another point that Johnson mentions is “the flashing arrow.” The flashing arrow is when a writer will deliberately point out something that will play a big role. Many times this will point to a piece of evidence that is key to the story but the viewer would most likely not see it if it were not pointed out. The example that Johnson gives takes place in a horror movie. “As the door shuts behind her, the ...

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...hing new or cause you to think outside of that show. Instead it just allows the viewer to learn about some random person that they will most likely never meet in the real world.
In any case, all three of the devices that Johnson has argued seem to be working. They create TV shows that are popular and have incredibly high ratings. It is even seen in relatively new shows such as “Game of Thrones”, which is wildly popular with viewers among all ages. While I may not agree with the idea that these devices actually increase cognitive faculties, there is still plenty of research to be done in order to determine if it is true or not.

Works Cited

Citations
Johnson, Steven. "Watching TV Makes You Smarter." The New York Times. The New York
Times, 23 Apr. 2005. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.
magazine/24TV.html?_r=0&pagewanted=all&position=>.