Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: Airthumbs on 07/05/2012 01:34:31
-
Being quite an observant individual I noticed that the youngest resident I have in the house was just staring at the TV and in doing so seemed to fall into what I call the TV trance..... She is 3 months old! She stopped interacting with anything or anyone else in the room and it was difficult to draw her attention away from the screen....sound familiar?
This is not the first time I have seen TV trance in action, just as an exercise, if you can bear the pain, watch some of your friends watching TV. I do not know of any other human behavioral pattern that matches this fixated state other then hypnotism or staring into a open fire, the latter of which people don't tend to do for more then ten minutes.
I can tell when someone has the addiction to this TV trance state when they also seem to need to watch the adverts and attempting communication with someone like this is very difficult, they get distracted and drawn back into the pretty flashing lights!!
Young children exposed to TV have impaired language and brain development..http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090601182830.htm
I sincerely believe that TV is responsible for putting humankind on pause and that the imaginations once used for inventiveness are now washed away in the advert for cleaner clothes~!
-
Ah, come on. People only get hypnotized if they to choose to do so. TV is a great source of information in spite of the fact that they put out a lot of BS. Thanks for comments. Joe L. Ogan
-
Ah, come on. People only get hypnotized if they to choose to do so. TV is a great source of information in spite of the fact that they put out a lot of BS. Thanks for comments. Joe L. Ogan
That's just what an addict would say :P
-
I think you have to be aware of the misuse of statistics here. Correlation between watching TV and impaired language development (for example) is not proof of causation. It is much more likely to be related to the lack of parental contact in households were the solution to keeping the kids quiet is to plonk them in front of the telly. BTW, I am not at all suggesting you are doing that and I think TV can add to education if used correctly. I used to enjoy Sesame Street with my kids when they were young too and they both ended up with Masters Degrees.
-
I think it rather depends on what is being watched. As Graham indicated, it’s not all bad and provided the TV isn't used as substitute for parental contact, some TV can be a good thing for children and certainly can be used as an educational tool.
For many people TV is a form of relaxation and escape. This too is fine, so long as it is not the only form utilised. A little gardening, walking the dog or just a stroll around the park should also be a means to these ends.
And what of sport? TV does bring sport to wide audience, many of whom cannot afford the time or the money to travel to sporting venues. I am no sport fanatic, but I appreciate that TV coverage is a good thing and may even encourage viewers to participate themselves. That can only be a good thing, so long as it is a genuine sport, not slinging arrows at a board with one hand whilst swilling down a pint of bitter with the other.
TV can be a great educational tool, not only for children, but for all. New discoveries in nature, physics, history, the universe and everything else, can be made available to many who might otherwise remain uninformed. TV is also an excellent means of spreading news on local, national and world events.
As for comedy, well there is nothing like a good laugh!
Drama, why not. Yes you can read a good book, but TV is just an alternative.
But where I would have to agree with you is in the case of soaps and the 'reality' TV. It does appear that some people get so engrossed in these that all else pales into insignificance. I do wonder if people realise that the last thing 'reality TV' is, is reality! And I also wonder if some would rather watch the fictional events of a fictional community than involve themselves in the reality which is around them.
But perhaps my biggest beef with TV is, the celebrity culture thing. It seems as though TV is mass producing 'celebrities'. After appearing on some talent show displaying a total lack of any form of talent whatsoever, the media may turn that person into a 'celebrity'. The question is, is it TV force feeding us with ‘celebrity’ or is it us demanding more celebrity? And who started it, TV, or us?
-
Much as I have to say about tv, which is almost completely negative, one thing you can't get around is that shows that don't draw an audience will not stay on the air. If we have almost universally awful tv, it is because that is what the majority of people is watching.
No one forces anyone to watch a reality show.
-
I would have to say that I am in a trance like state when I read a novel. I easily can tune out the people or noises around me.
That said, I am pretty amazed, given how many channels there are on cable, that so much of it is junk. It makes me nuts to turn on "The History Channel" and find Hogans Heros or something like that. Even the Documentary channel can be pretty disappointing at times. Why is that? Is there not a big enough nerd demographic to support at least one channel of with science, history, etc. and some decent movies?
-
.....It makes me nuts to turn on "The History Channel" and find Hogans Heros or something like that.
I suppose they justify that by the fact that Hogans Heros is a programme from TV history.
Gordian: "No one forces anyone to watch a reality show." You haven't met my Mrs, have you!
No, of course no one is forced to watch anything, but what a waste of what could be a valuable resource.
I must add that I do find BBC Four quite good for factual programmes.
-
But Don, that is my point. Reality shows are so common because people want to watch them. It is a terrible waste of what could be a valuable resource.
-
But Don, that is my point. Reality shows are so common because people want to watch them.
Yes, I agree, there does seem to be an insatiable appetite for this sort of rubbish and the soaps, talent shows and celebrity culture. The question is why??? Has reality become so boring or troublesome that people want only to escape from it for a while? But even if that is the case, why this sort of inane twaddle? Why not leave humanity behind and escape into the world of the rain forest, the savannah, deep oceans or deep space? Why not history or how things work? Why not drama, factual or fictional?
Are the masses leading or are they being subliminally lead? And if they are being lead, do they actually want to be lead?