Is TV dumbing down American society?

whygohome

Your thoughts?

acrossssSsssshittt

society in general.. to an extent... but in this day and age TV, at times at least, can seem like a fuckin newspaper given the influence of newer crap... seein and hearin of people glued to stuff like xbox and what not shows quite the decline... of the human race...

guitarhero... what a joke..

Wishlist5.1

lets face it TV and internet are addictive. We sit there for hours even when theres nothing on, but what makes it worse is that some of the content thats on (compared to yester years) ie Jersey shore etc...are horrible and violent when they dont have to be. Plus just bad. Theres just not enouph good stuff on out there. If good stuff is on and entertains and also educates us, yes the ratings would go down but it would also in the long run help open up some minds. PBS , dicovery, history, lifetime, halmark movies are pretty cool. We need to step back, get off the internet and facebook, and rather listen to some toons, call a friend, read, go out, and or just do something else thats productive. ANYTHING. Its hard but true.

_

Yes. I think it's the #1 contributor to the decline in critical thinking, among other things.

whygohome

scb wrote:

Yes. I think it's the #1 contributor to the decline in critical thinking, among other things.

Well put - "a decline in critical thinking"

whygohome

pearljamorbust wrote:

lets face it TV and internet are addictive. We sit there for hours even when theres nothing on, but what makes it worse is that some of the content thats on (compared to yester years) ie Jersey shore etc...are horrible and violent when they dont have to be. Plus just bad. Theres just not enouph good stuff on out there. If good stuff is on and entertains and also educates us, yes the ratings would go down but it would also in the long run help open up some minds. PBS , dicovery, history, lifetime, halmark movies are pretty cool. We need to step back, get off the internet and facebook, and rather listen to some toons, call a friend, read, go out, and or just do something else thats productive. ANYTHING. Its hard but true.

"ANYTHING" Yes, please, anything constructive, creative, intelligent, worthwhile, helpful, analytical, philanthropic, educational........ANYTHING.

whygohome

acrossOceans wrote:

society in general.. to an extent... but in this day and age TV, at times at least, can seem like a fuckin newspaper given the influence of newer crap... seein and hearin of people glued to stuff like xbox and what not shows quite the decline... of the human race...

guitarhero... what a joke..[/quote

Glued like zombies. It's a depressing joke.

catefrances

so i come home yesterday and my daughter is watching rock of love. reality tv makes me shake my head and laugh in equal parts. but this show with its crying, vindictiveness, copious use of the word bitches and the sneaking off to bret to tell him something 'for his own good', has hands down got to be a leading contender for worst show ever.

what the hell is wrong with women that they would subject themselves to such bullshit.

g under p

whygohome wrote:

acrossOceans wrote:

society in general.. to an extent... but in this day and age TV, at times at least, can seem like a fuckin newspaper given the influence of newer crap... seein and hearin of people glued to stuff like xbox and what not shows quite the decline... of the human race...

guitarhero... what a joke..

Glued like zombies. It's a depressing joke.

I can remember when there was one TV in a home (...and was actually considered furniture) that was black and white with I think 4 channels. This song right here kind off explains what TV is doing to this nation....


Written 1992 by Michael Franti when he was with his group Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy...

Television: Drug Of the Nation

Peace

catefrances

but then again tv gave us the wire and 6 feet under and buffy the vampire slayer.

so dont forget for all the crap it gives us tv does throw up a gem every now and again. probably even more frequently than that if we bother to look.

g under p

catefrances wrote:

but then again tv gave us the wire and 6 feet under and buffy the vampire slayer.

so dont forget for all the crap it gives us tv does throw up a gem every now and again. probably even more frequently than that if we bother to look.

I've never watched any of those shows but I'm sure you liked them.

Peace

_

g under p wrote:

I can remember when there was one TV in a home (...and was actually considered furniture) that was black and white with I think 4 channels. This song right here kind off explains what TV is doing to this nation....


Written 1992 by Michael Franti when he was with his group Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy...

Television: Drug Of the Nation

Peace

Haha.... Sometimes I think maybe you ARE Michael Franti!

g under p

scb wrote:

g under p wrote:

I can remember when there was one TV in a home (...and was actually considered furniture) that was black and white with I think 4 channels. This song right here kind off explains what TV is doing to this nation....


Written 1992 by Michael Franti when he was with his group Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy...

Television: Drug Of the Nation

Peace

Haha.... Sometimes I think maybe you ARE Michael Franti!

Ha Ha joke of the day, I'm his brother.

Peace

whygohome

catefrances wrote:

but then again tv gave us the wire and 6 feet under and buffy the vampire slayer.

so dont forget for all the crap it gives us tv does throw up a gem every now and again. probably even more frequently than that if we bother to look.

I agree....now and again, there is a gem. But, what is the ratio? 1:20, 1:30? 1:50, 1:100?

stardust1976

I tend to think TV, along with the other things mentioned - like XBox or whatever - can be what you make of it. I don't watch an awful lot of tv, but what I do watch I love - yes, I'll admit, shows like Lost and Desperate Housewives, and Bones - I LOVE them. But I know they aren't reality, they're just a bit of escapism for me. (well until I saw the suburbs of Minneapolis, and then I was all like.."ohhh, its sooo pretty, just like in the tv shows!!! Haha, but that's a whole other story!). My point is, is that as long as you recognize that it IS escapism, and not reality (even the reality tv shows), you're fine. My children watch a lot of rubbish on tv - mostly stuff on Disney channel, but that doesn't dumb them down or skew their sense of reality because I don't let it. I turn the channel to discovery or NatGeo or something like that, and if they don't like what's on - they go and find something else to do. I also make sure they understand what they are watching is in NO WAY akin to real life, and it's fine if they enjoy it, but to temper the enjoyment with understanding that it's all fake and made up. We also listen to a lot of music, do a lot of art, and reading, and they play with their toys - everything in moderation - just like chocolate!

TV can only dumb you down if you let it - and yes, I'll agree - there are a LOT of people who let it.

Hugh Freaking Dillon

I believe it is, to an extent. I'm not going to sit here and say I only watch shows that make me think, I'm as guilty as the next person of watching Family Guy and enjoying it.

But the real question is, is American (and British, really) society dumbing down TV? I mean, people lap this shit up and FORCE the TV marketing execs to give them more of what they want: Jersey fucking Shore and Nick and Jessica and all that bullshit. For some it's harmless escapism, for many, it's an addiction.

My wife and I were addicted to Survivor for the first few seasons. Then we stopped having Thursday Drug and Drink Night, and it became much less appealing.

Most of what we watch now is Law & Order SVU. But sometimes it's disturbs us. :shock:

catefrances

for the most part tv bores me. i get excited about a new show watch it twice and lose interest.

Paul David wrote:

I believe it is, to an extent. I'm not going to sit here and say I only watch shows that make me think, I'm as guilty as the next person of watching Family Guy and enjoying it. ...

i too watch family guy. and it makes think... how is it that brian has human girlfriends and is the smartest person in the griffin family? how is it i just described brian as a person? and whats with stewies accent?

Smellyman

TV has always had loads of garbage on.

I think 24 hour news channels in the US are the bigger culprit.

_

Smellyman wrote:

TV has always had loads of garbage on.

I think 24 hour news channels in the US are the bigger culprit.

Yeah, that's primarily what I was referring to. Although I think many of the other shows - like the reality shows - also skew our sense of reality. But I'm not sure that's the same as being dumber.

Electric_Delta

Yes, television is absolutely dumbing us down, among other things.

The way the American media fawns over celebrities, which has in essence turned them (celebs) into a quasi-royalty, has basically contributed to the notion now commonly held by every American youth that they must, in some way, get famous. Attaining fame is the goal, no matter what the cost.

We also have garbage like "Jersey Shore" and the Kardashian skanks which have become the modern role model for girls. For boys, they need to become Ultimate Fighting Champions.

Scb, we've had disagreements in the past, but I agree with you 100% on your analysis. The age of critical thinking is dead, at least among the majority.

Electric_Delta

By the way, the culture shows it's stage of degeneration when Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian are famous ONLY for putting out sex tapes.

Jeanwah

Don't get me started...it's the reason I watch only a few shows. And the commercials... has anyone seen the latest Burger King commercial with that jingle that is so simple a 5 year old could have written it? ("It's breakfast...") and a bunch of people are marching down the street? Talk about dumbing down an entire audience.

Electric_Delta

Jeanwah wrote:

Don't get me started...it's the reason I watch only a few shows. And the commercials... has anyone seen the latest Burger King commercial with that jingle that is so simple a 5 year old could have written it? ("It's breakfast...") and a bunch of people are marching down the street? Talk about dumbing down an entire audience.

Nothing better than pushing poison on the masses with a slew of moronic commercials.

Jeanwah

Electric_Delta wrote:

Jeanwah wrote:

Don't get me started...it's the reason I watch only a few shows. And the commercials... has anyone seen the latest Burger King commercial with that jingle that is so simple a 5 year old could have written it? ("It's breakfast...") and a bunch of people are marching down the street? Talk about dumbing down an entire audience.

Nothing better than pushing poison on the masses with a slew of moronic commercials.

That's what I mean. Not only are the programs moronic with the concentration on reality programming, but the commercials are even worse. The public may not be idiots, but advertisers certainly treat us as though we are.

pandora

Perhaps dumbing down but TV is not to be taken so seriously, it's entertainment.

An escape from the worries of real life and some shows, depending upon our own individual lives, we can relate to, such as parenting or work related experience.

Also some shows have lessons learned in them or touch our hearts
by watching others overcome challenges. A good cry can be just what is needed.

I person can choose to watch only the informative shows like my son does and learn a lot about a lot of things.

Yes, some commercials are pretty dumb, thank goodness for the DVR now, we watch very few, but then those during the live sporting events are pretty entertaining, a good laugh, football season brings out the best.

Hugh Freaking Dillon

I would have to make the point that, while it is unfortunate that our youth tend to subscribe to the notion that celebs are what they should aspire to be, at least most of us know them for what they really are: human zoo animals. I mean, really, sure they live in big houses, I'd argue they are giant prisons. They are chased, poked, prodded, pictures snapped of them constantly, rumours started about them, close-up snapshots of less-than-flattering body parts and put up for display in the supermarket......I could go on.

No thanks. You couldn't PAY me to be famous.

polaris_x

corporations are dumbing down american society and well we know who owns the media ... so, the answer is yes ... kind of ...

know1

There's only 1 TV in our home....and I only watch sports on it. Most TV shows seem to be utter crap.

Jason P

I don't know about America in general, but I learn quite a bit from shows on Discovery, Nat Geo, TLC, ect. I pretty much avoid the main networks unless football or Jeopardy is on.

Overall, it is good to unplug the TV every once in a while for an extended amount of time. About every two years I will cancel my service for about 6 months (this period of time usually coincides with the baseball season) and I try to focus more on reading or just getting outside.

Gonzo1977

If you can believe it...Actually, less and less people are watching TV these days...that's a fact.

Internet, iphones, ipads, video games, ect...

The disturbing thing is that there is less and less pysical interation between humans today.

Facebook, Twitter, Text Messaging, Online Retail...human interaction is on the decline and that is what is destroying culture on all levels.

Nothing more defiines the human race than our abiltiy to communicate.

Physical Communication.

When is the last time you learnt something that didn't come from the Internet?

We used to bounce ideas off eachother, share books, stories, music.
We used to do this face to face.

We never needed the Internet to converse, or interact...So why do we depend on it so much now?

180 characters or less in front of the computer screen, behind a wall, in a room, and inside a house.

1994 is viewed as the dawning of the Internet Age as well as The Technological Revolution.

What's interesting and more than a little bit alarming is that the specific Vitamin D levels that our bodies used to absorb from the sun have been on a dangerous, rapid, and steady decline since 1994??

It need not be a mystery as to how we've now become Insufficient/deficiant in levels of an important vitamin that used to be easily attained by just going outside and getting a little bit of fresh air?

I guess it's no shocker that obesity has also rapidly increased in this perriod of time as well.

Did you know that Vitamin D actually helps the brain?

or...that obesity actually kills brain cells?

Something to think about.

Hugh Freaking Dillon

which is why I don't own a cell phone/blackberry or any of that shit. My pc is enough. And I quit facebook recently. I use my pc for music only now.

Gonzo1977 wrote:

If you can believe it...Actually, less and less people are watching TV these days...that's a fact.

Internet, iphones, ipads, video games, ect...

The disturbing thing is that there is less and less pysical interation between humans today.

Facebook, Twitter, Text Messaging, Online Retail...human interaction is on the decline and that is what is destroying culture on all levels.

We're detached from the very thing that once allowed us evolve.

Physical Communication.

When is the last time you learnt something that didn't come from the Internet?

We used to bounce ideas off eachother, share books, stories, music.

We never needed the Internet to converse, and actually physically communicate...Why do we depend on it so much now?

180 characters or less behind a wall, and inside a house.

1994 is viewed as the dawning of Internet Age as well as The Technological Revolution.

What's interesting and more than a little bit alarming is that the specific Vitamin D levels that our bodies used to absorb from the sun have been on a dangerous rapid and steady decline since 1994??

It need not be a mystery as to how we've now become Insufficient/deficiant in levels of an important vitamin that used to be easily attained by just going outside and getting a little bit of fresh air?

I guess it's no shocker that obesity has also rapidly increased in this perriod of time as well.

Did you know that Vitamin D actually helps the brain?

or...that obesity actually kills brain cells?

Something to think about.