Response on Dana Stevens Thinking Outside the Idiot Box - Article Example

I have not really read Johnson's article but it was sufficiently referred to in Stevens piece. I could say, based from her arguments that what she had to say were no more valid than the position she was attacking if only for the fact that she offered no legitimate evidence to support her position. The issue was that: does TV makes the viewer dumber or smarter? Stevens position was more inclined to side with the latter. Thus, her attack on Johnson's theory as particularly highlighted in the title, where she called the TV "idiot box".

Her main arguments were the impact of advertisements as well as the misrepresentations of certain groups such as Muslims in TV shows. The rest were mainly her personal opinion based on her experience watching the medium. I was looking for empirical evidence that proved Stevens position. But there was none. As part of the TV audience, I am interested in this aspect. Has it been scientifically proven that TV makes us dumber? In my observation, Stevens was correct to say that there are harmful TV contents or materials that are plainly stupid.

However, her position treats the public as unthinking mass who is not able to distinguish rubbish from good and just absorb everything that TV shows have to offer. I think that TV makes us smarter. It provides information. It is up to us to analyze and make use of each and every data, whether to reject it or use it as part of our knowledge.