Poll: Is modern TV dumbing down the youth of today?
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I'm not an anti-game sort of person, but I really have to take issue with this.Dys post=18.73799.811984 said:
1. Many video games are oriented around near-constant violence; the formula of most games is that you enter an area, kill everyone there, maybe watch a cutscene, and move on to the next area. Additionally, the violence in video games is much bloodier and more visceral while simultaneously less emphasized, emotional, and negative than it is on television.
2. While it could be argued in that fashion that video games are "thought provoking," you really can't argue that the majority of video games promote deep cultural or social thought.
3. Because the user controls at least one character on the screen, there is great encouragement for the player to identify with that character. In that way, any antisocial or unpalatable messages encouraged by the game are encouraged more than they are on television.
Obviously, playing video games isn't going to turn the average person into a killer, but gamers seem very willing to bury their heads in the sand and completely ignore the possibility that video games have any adverse psychological or social effects, and that seems like a very dangerous and ill-advised orientation to me. Like it or not, video games and television are comparable in many ways in psychological terms.
Here in the good 'ole USA, I wouldn't say that it's primary function is to dumb them down, but to teach them to be vicious killers, people who can solve mysteries in an hour (44min w/o commercials), and how to waste hours on end watching programs with no plot, i.e. The Hills, Rock of Love, Paris Hilton: The Search for My...whatever, lost my train of thought...oh well, I'm gonna go watch TV...
I wrote a couple of paragraphs but I've decided to keep this simple. Television doesn't create stupidity but it reflects and propagates the view of western culture. Unfortunately, western culture seems to encourage stupidity.
To quote the late Bill Hicks: "...go back to bed America, here's American Gladiators...you are free to do as we tell you..."
To quote the late Bill Hicks: "...go back to bed America, here's American Gladiators...you are free to do as we tell you..."
Ah, I seem to have misrepresented what I think.Good morning blues post=18.73799.812306 said:
1.)
While people are encouraged to, on some level at least, relate to the protagonist in a video game, it isn't really an easy goal to accomplish and society is very clear on its rules about killing people...even the weakest parent in the world wouldn't be able to let a homicidal child do as they please, and in that sense it is harder to imitate (as oppose to glorified brats on tv getting what they want).
I would straight out disagree that violence in video games is less detached and emotional that that in your average action movie, which is what you'd relate to a violent shooting game. Neither veiw 'enemies' as people, I've not bothered to count but the amount of people killed in films like james bond or saving private ryan would be substancial. In fact, because video games are, well, in most cases ridiculas (halo, team fortress, half life etc etc) I would think that the killing is less...influential (best word I can think of :S) as it is almost comedic (like say die hard/james bond violence as opposed to the complete brutality of films like saw (even though they emphasize the victims) and the killing of nazi's in every ww2 film I've ever seen.
2.)
When I claimed that video games encouraged thought, I certianly did not mean on a social level, I meant in the sense that there was some effort involved in playing, some clear cut thought pattern or strategy thus making it less of a background influence (reading back I can see how badly that thought was put across).
Even acknowledging how potentially damaging video games are, with the way they are inforced and regulated and the very nature of what they are makes them less of a social threat in my eyes, I'm yet to see a game that has the effect on people that 'jackass' did.
By and large, yes.
I grew up with barely any TV at all. ("That's right, when I was your age, TV was called books!") Not because it wasn't around, simply because my parents chose to not have it in the house. My brother and I entertained ourselves with... yes, wait for it... Books. We were both thought of as being quite smart. Hell, we still are. To this day I'm not sure how much of our intelligence is inherited and how much is determined by environment, but I'm convinced that legions of my friends and classmates could have done better by far if they'd been better readers. They weren't better readers, though, and that's mostly because they preferred TV.
I grew up with barely any TV at all. ("That's right, when I was your age, TV was called books!") Not because it wasn't around, simply because my parents chose to not have it in the house. My brother and I entertained ourselves with... yes, wait for it... Books. We were both thought of as being quite smart. Hell, we still are. To this day I'm not sure how much of our intelligence is inherited and how much is determined by environment, but I'm convinced that legions of my friends and classmates could have done better by far if they'd been better readers. They weren't better readers, though, and that's mostly because they preferred TV.
Yes, TV, magazines, hell even radio is contributing to the dumbing-down process when I hear the third FUCKING person in my class listening to that FUCKING Linken Park song for the 3rd FUCKING time on their mobile phones... sorry gone off topic (again). It's the fault of the parents for inflicting TV, trailer trash magazines and shitty music on their kids because they don't have time to raise them, is stupidity a genetic thing though? I retreated to the internet because I grew bored of the crap, repetitive shows and annoying ads, then I found you guys which made me very happy indeed.
The only things I watch anymore is Vh1 Classic (Just music videos from the 60's, 70's, 80's, and some 90's, for the most part.) and some movie channels if something decent is on.
Back on topic, I think the fact that more people vote on some reality TV shows than people vote in a presidental election
Back on topic, I think the fact that more people vote on some reality TV shows than people vote in a presidental election
I would say censorship is dumbing down the youthier youth (since I might be still considered a youth). Censorship has seen no ends recently more so in the USA than other places. This making swearing and the such taboo and you seem instantly more cool for doing anything taboo because your being the rebel.
I agree 100% on that comment. Some people just don't have anything better to do but wish there famous.Labyrinth post=18.73799.809554 said:
I also agree strongly that MTV and Much And Disney Channel are completly dumbing down are society to think such outrageous things like (hannah montanna) is a good role modle or all of these other disney stars with nose job's and pretty revealing photos.
There was a saying in the paper today:
Every generation always find themselves more intelligent than the previous one and wiser than the next one
Every generation always find themselves more intelligent than the previous one and wiser than the next one
I find it disheartening when girls say they would most want to be models, movie stars, footballers wives etc rather than work for and have real jobs instead of being supported by their other(similarily rich)half. Sometimes I think the youth of today live in cuckooland, they want everything now and don't want to work for anything.
How old are we on this thread, 90? You guys sound like stereotypical nursing home cranks. I say stereotypical because most people in nursing homes probably aren't this gloomy about "today's youth."
TV isn't making anyone stupider. Does the modern TV landscape represent a wasteland at times? Certainly. But TV's significance can't be measured in terms of its ability to convey analysis and argument in the traditional sense. TV's power lies in its ability to disseminate images. And in that sense, it is the images to which we must pay attention. Is the Hills a vacuous show about some faux reality? Yes, but it's also a treasure trove of cultural significance.
Instead of complaining about the TV as a sign of cultural decline, we should instead watch all of it, the good and the bad, because in doing so we gain a deeper appreciation for the intricacies of early 21st century culture. And it is this process, more than decrying "frivolous" TV shows, that allows us to contribute to and create a vital and stimulating culture.
TV isn't making anyone stupider. Does the modern TV landscape represent a wasteland at times? Certainly. But TV's significance can't be measured in terms of its ability to convey analysis and argument in the traditional sense. TV's power lies in its ability to disseminate images. And in that sense, it is the images to which we must pay attention. Is the Hills a vacuous show about some faux reality? Yes, but it's also a treasure trove of cultural significance.
Instead of complaining about the TV as a sign of cultural decline, we should instead watch all of it, the good and the bad, because in doing so we gain a deeper appreciation for the intricacies of early 21st century culture. And it is this process, more than decrying "frivolous" TV shows, that allows us to contribute to and create a vital and stimulating culture.
The TV shows I watched as a kid were terrible in retrospect (i've seen most of them since). The only exception is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles whose memory remains untarnished. I refuse to watch that show again because I'm not sure I could bear to see just how stupid it really is.