Television and Videogames:
The New Teaching Professors Who would believe an apocalyptic, zombie-killer game or series will make people smarter? Most people believe that mass media destroys your brain cells, but Steven Johnson and Tom Bissell prove this common assumption wrong. In his 2005 article for New York Times Magazine “Watching TV Makes You Smarter”, Johnson convincingly argues how modern shows are making people think more, thus exercising their minds. Supporting this point of view, in his 2010 essay from his recent book “Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter” Tom Bissell adequately asserts that video games are capable of changing player’s lives and challenge their mental abilities. In other words both articles prove how, contrary to …show more content…
This “theory” says that the most modern forms of mass diversion are nutritional for the mind (279). Johnson says “I believe the Sleeper Curve is the single most important new force altering the mental development of young people…enhancing our cognitive faculties, not dumbing them down” (279). What Johnson is saying is that the Sleeper Curve only shows how people, by consuming mass media, are becoming more and more intelligent each day. The Sleeper Curve can be easily supported by the fact that the new complex TV shows and dramas know include cognitive benefits conventionally attributed to books and include primary elements of complexity such as: multithreading and social networks (Johnson, 280). The fact that these modern shows have such important complex characteristics is the main reason why Johnson argues that they are making everyone who watched them more intelligent. In fact, people now a days are way more demanding that they were a few years ago, Johnson states “Audiences happily embrace that complexity because they’ve been trained by two decades of multi-threaded dramas” (284). What Johnson is basically expressing is that people will easily get bored if they saw an old single-threaded show because they have grown to love and look forward for more complexity in their shows. This ambition and desire for more complexity only tell us how shows are making brains work faster, thus enhancing …show more content…
According to Johnson, modern shows have grown apart from flashing arrows (obvious clues that explain the plot) to include multi-threads in their structures; this means that “You have to focus to follow the plot, and in focusing you are exercising the parts of your brain…” (Johnson, 292). In other words, while filling in random information between scenes, connecting multiple plot lines, and mapping all the different threads people are of course exercising their minds while watching a drama on their 42-inch high definition flat screen. Supporting this is the fact that modern videogames have such a complex storytelling and gameplay that they immerse you in a world that needs all of your concentration and abilities in order to enjoy. Bissell states that “Games have grown immensely sophisticated…” and these games are “Teeming with secrets, hidden areas, and surprises that may pounce only on the second or third (or forth) play-through” (358, 360). This means that modern games, as TVshows, have become so sophisticated that it is impossible for the players to not exercise their minds and increase their cognitive dexterity. In short words, modern dramas and games draw their consumers so much into them that the final result will always be a stronger and better
The New Teaching Professors Who would believe an apocalyptic, zombie-killer game or series will make people smarter? Most people believe that mass media destroys your brain cells, but Steven Johnson and Tom Bissell prove this common assumption wrong. In his 2005 article for New York Times Magazine “Watching TV Makes You Smarter”, Johnson convincingly argues how modern shows are making people think more, thus exercising their minds. Supporting this point of view, in his 2010 essay from his recent book “Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter” Tom Bissell adequately asserts that video games are capable of changing player’s lives and challenge their mental abilities. In other words both articles prove how, contrary to …show more content…
This “theory” says that the most modern forms of mass diversion are nutritional for the mind (279). Johnson says “I believe the Sleeper Curve is the single most important new force altering the mental development of young people…enhancing our cognitive faculties, not dumbing them down” (279). What Johnson is saying is that the Sleeper Curve only shows how people, by consuming mass media, are becoming more and more intelligent each day. The Sleeper Curve can be easily supported by the fact that the new complex TV shows and dramas know include cognitive benefits conventionally attributed to books and include primary elements of complexity such as: multithreading and social networks (Johnson, 280). The fact that these modern shows have such important complex characteristics is the main reason why Johnson argues that they are making everyone who watched them more intelligent. In fact, people now a days are way more demanding that they were a few years ago, Johnson states “Audiences happily embrace that complexity because they’ve been trained by two decades of multi-threaded dramas” (284). What Johnson is basically expressing is that people will easily get bored if they saw an old single-threaded show because they have grown to love and look forward for more complexity in their shows. This ambition and desire for more complexity only tell us how shows are making brains work faster, thus enhancing …show more content…
According to Johnson, modern shows have grown apart from flashing arrows (obvious clues that explain the plot) to include multi-threads in their structures; this means that “You have to focus to follow the plot, and in focusing you are exercising the parts of your brain…” (Johnson, 292). In other words, while filling in random information between scenes, connecting multiple plot lines, and mapping all the different threads people are of course exercising their minds while watching a drama on their 42-inch high definition flat screen. Supporting this is the fact that modern videogames have such a complex storytelling and gameplay that they immerse you in a world that needs all of your concentration and abilities in order to enjoy. Bissell states that “Games have grown immensely sophisticated…” and these games are “Teeming with secrets, hidden areas, and surprises that may pounce only on the second or third (or forth) play-through” (358, 360). This means that modern games, as TVshows, have become so sophisticated that it is impossible for the players to not exercise their minds and increase their cognitive dexterity. In short words, modern dramas and games draw their consumers so much into them that the final result will always be a stronger and better