Life Across The Pond

My trusted friend (and teacher!) - the television

I knew it! After years of singing the praises of the television as a learning tool, I stumbled across a like-minded article in yesterday's New York Times Magazine. In the article, Steven Johnson argues that the increased complexity of the story lines in today's tv shows compared to those aired 20 or more years ago challenges the cognitive abilities of its viewers in order to follow along. He contrasts the multiple storylines and numerous developed characters offered in Fox's "24" with the simple, single-plot episodes of "Starsky and Hutch" during the 70s stating that for the viewer to follow along with "24", he or she is forced to follow multiple, interrelated threads, make inferences from clues which aren't explicitly stated, and most importantly, think - all cognitive functions that weren't required to enjoy an episode of "Starsky and Hutch" where all the thinking was done for you.

While I understand Johnson's arguement, I'm not sure I would jump to the conclusion that watching shows like "24" necessarily make you smarter. I will concede that more involved programs will exercise deductive reasoning skills (which I think was called "critical thinking skills" when I was in school) to some extent but I don't think that watching a prime time drama is really going to teach someone these skills if they haven't already developed them.

However, I happened to watch 12 episodes of the first season of "24" this weekend. I'm taking special care to note any increase in "smartness" that I feel over the next couple of days in case Johnson is indeed correct.

posted by Peter @ 1:57 PM