Watching tv makes people smart

The television has been around for decades now and in nearly every household there is at least one television set to be found. It has become part of most people’s daily lives. We might watch the news, movies, documentaries, game shows, reality shows, talent shows, series, and whether we like it or not, a lot of advertisements. There is something on T. V. for almost everyone. There are cartoons for children of different age groups, shows for seniors, programs for business people, daytime series for housewives, wild-life programs for nature lovers, and the list goes on. Since the television made its appearance in society, there has been a lot of debate on whether it is good for us or not. The average person in the Philippines now watches over 150 hours of television a month, which is well over 5 hours a day, and while there are many concerned people convinced that watching television has a negative impact on today’s society, you might well be surprised that watching television can actually make you smarter. First of all, scientists warn us that watching television has the same mind-numbing effect on the brain as staring at a wall. When we watch television,  the mind shuts off and enters a state similar to that of being deeply relaxed or even asleep. However, watching shows like AXN’s “ CSI”, a series a series that uses method of real time, really makes the viewer’s mind work. The brain is constantly stimulated, and has to process lots of bits of information to keep up with the ever evolving story.  The viewer must pay close attention, make inferences, and keep up to speed with the characters’ ever changing deduction while watching the show.  Shows like these on television are, in fact, enhancing the viewer’s cognitive faculties, not making them brain-dead.  Therefore, the popular media today is steadily, yet almost imperceptibly sharpening our minds while we sit on the chair or sofa watching these shows. Researchers call this effect the Sleeping Curve. Secondly, many studies persist on the negative effect that television supposedly has on children.  Kids watching several hours of TV per day are spending less time on their homework so they perform badly in school. Some also argue that children are to be socially less competent because there is less opportunity for conversation at home.  Parents are advised to limit their children’s exposure to television.  Even though there is some truth in these notions, It does not apply to anyone. Children from impoverished families benefit enormously from watching television regularly, and even achieve better grades in school because of those hours spent in front of the T. V.  Sadly, it is true that most parents who are on welfare provide no intellectual stimulation for their children, and spend less time speaking to their kids as more highly educated and working parents, resulting in a much weaker vocabulary than the vocabularies of their peers from wealthier families.  Stimulation is what children need and if they cannot find that in their parents, they are better off watching the television. Just like children living in low income families, kids living in poor countries that can watch a few hours of television daily, dramatically enhance their reading capabilities and perform better in school. So, they become smarter than kids who do not get a chance to watch television.  On top of all this, when kids are watching the right programs and with the right parental guidance, they can learn even more about concepts they did not have any prior knowledge of,  and can be inspired like they would be more motivated to further their education. Another common belief that many people, especially politicians and more highly educated people share, is that newspapers are more trustworthy and informative than the news reported through television. They also claim that information provided by the newspaper is more factual and more reliable, saying that you actually learn more by reading than hearing the news. Unfortunately though, many newspapers are biased in their reporting and are often contain significant political bias, to the point, in some cases, of blatantly imposing certain political views on their readers. . Although this phenomenon is no secret to anyone, it does however, raise the question of whether you are getting factual news. The channels of the British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC), though, have been providing their audience with a predominantly serious news agenda, regarding both foreign and domestic issues, and have remained unbiased and impartial. Like our local T. V broadcasting networks such as 24 oras of GMA and TV Patrol of ABS-CBN. They have remained steadfast in reporting unbiased news, as opposed to the unreliable tabloids. Also, studies have shown that when watching the news on television, people retain information better than they do in reading the same news in a newspaper. These are successful tests suggests that people who watch the news on TV gain more knowledge and thus, become smarter.