Relevant TV?
This is an interesting article on NYT today, "Watching TV Makes You Smarter" (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/24/magazine/24TV.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=all&position). The writer discusses the effect of TV drama series (such as 24, The West Wing, The Sopranos) which have multiple plots and an intricate network of characters, on our way of thinking. His point is that today's pop entertainment actually requires more attention from the audience to follow, and this, therefore, is a good aspect both for the young and old generetations. Even (some) reality shows and games, according to him, is making the audience smarter. So, he concludes:"
"The kids are forced to think like grown-ups: analyzing complex social networks, managing resources, tracking subtle narrative intertwinings, recognizing long-term patterns. The grown-ups, in turn, get to learn from the kids: decoding each new technological wave, parsing the interfaces and discovering the intellectual rewards of play."
Well, it is an interesting idea. I think he is actually right, especially when one compares the older shows with the current ones and realises how simple, and not intellectually challenging, they were. The problem is, of course, there are also the more negative aspects of our pop culture (violence, racism, etc.), and, sadly, most of the time you can only have the whole package. But then again I wonder if kids thinking like grown-ups is always a good thing?!!, and of course grown-ups can also waste a lot of time searching for any 'intellectual rewards' in some games.
However, what I like most about this article is the *relevant* use of linguistic terminology I am now using and reading more than ever. The best examaples I think are:
Hey, is Relevance Theory invading the press too? :)
Mai
"The kids are forced to think like grown-ups: analyzing complex social networks, managing resources, tracking subtle narrative intertwinings, recognizing long-term patterns. The grown-ups, in turn, get to learn from the kids: decoding each new technological wave, parsing the interfaces and discovering the intellectual rewards of play."
Well, it is an interesting idea. I think he is actually right, especially when one compares the older shows with the current ones and realises how simple, and not intellectually challenging, they were. The problem is, of course, there are also the more negative aspects of our pop culture (violence, racism, etc.), and, sadly, most of the time you can only have the whole package. But then again I wonder if kids thinking like grown-ups is always a good thing?!!, and of course grown-ups can also waste a lot of time searching for any 'intellectual rewards' in some games.
However, what I like most about this article is the *relevant* use of linguistic terminology I am now using and reading more than ever. The best examaples I think are:
- "the culture is getting more cognitively demanding, not less."
- "think of the cognitive benefits conventionally ascribed to reading: attention, patience, retention, the parsing of narrative threads."
- And this is my personal favourite: "cognitive junk food".
Hey, is Relevance Theory invading the press too? :)
Mai
posted by Mai at 11:41 PM
2 Comments:
'Cognitive Junk Food' is great. Sounds like a good name for a blog. Register that domain name now!
B-)
Yeh, and the description would be:
"Less demanding processing effort for more unhealthy cognitive effects"
:)
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