There are MANY educational programs. Some recognizable ones consist of: "Blue's Clues", "Dora the Explorer", "Sesame Street", "Reading Rainbow", "Word World", etc.; the list continues to grow. We see these shows as such a useful, supported, and innocent unit of television compared to its other branches of entertainment that we do not realize the potential threat educational television poses.
While still at our monthly age most of us are put in front of the television. We may not be paying much attention to it at first, but during infancy is when we are absorbing the most information about the world. This creates the dangerous possibility of a child's attachment to a television to be too reliant. This reliance will also effect the parents as well, as Postman pointed out, "that it assuage[s] their guilt over the fact that they could not or would not restrict their [child's] access to television"(pg.142). As the child reaches the required age to attend school they are so dependant on the entertaining teaching methods of their television that learning at school becomes difficult and they begin to associate the words "work", "boredom", and "school" as synonymous. It causes problems with their attention spans, grades, and ability to concentrate.
An exaggerated example of this television related problem would be the film "The Cable Guy"with Jim Carrey. In this comedy, Jim Carrey plays the role of a cable installer that goes by the alias Chip Douglas that was fired from his job but continues to install people's cable, giving deals, and making "friends". Chip was raised on television sitcoms, due to the leaving of his father and his mother being at "happy hour". He has a lisp, a derranged vision of living life like a television show, and meets a man named Steven (played by Matthew Broderick) who he installs cable for, but sees a chance to make a freind. After a series of outrageous events dealing with Chip trying to befriend or ruin Steven's life, Chip comes to terms that he may have a unstable mental condition. It's a GREAT movie. I laugh everytime! It shows how influencial television can be to an embellished extent, but deals with some real possible situations as well.
Happy birthday, Half-Life 2!
6 hours ago
Justin, I don't understand what The Cable Guy has to do with the rest of your post. I read your last sentence, of course, but I still don't get it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he meant that the way people learn when they're younger or how they are treated when they are younger depends on how you are when you grow up. In The Cable Guy, his father left him and, his mom was never there. Maybe that's what made him who he was... The Cable Guy?
ReplyDeleteSorry about the misunderstanding, Ms. Fletcher. I tried to relate the issue of children being raised and taught by their television rather than their parents and teachers. The Cable Guy demonstrates this because he was raised by television from childhood and tried to lead a life based on the sitcoms he watched as a boy, therefore making him somewhat crazy.
ReplyDeleteJustin, thanks for that...if you don't mind, I have a process question for you. What happened just there for you as a writer? And what was your thinking? Did you think you had explained that? Or did you imagine your readers would likely be familiar with the movie? Or...what? Can you remember what was in your head as you wrote??
ReplyDeleteBrittany...did you see the Cable Guy?
ReplyDeleteMrs. fletcher, a question.
ReplyDeleteIn my essays, I would write soma this, soma that and so forth. I explained what soma was beforehand or somewhere along the way. Now, did I have to that? I think it would be safe to say you know what soma is. But still... I'm wondering.