Re: TV

Richard Lampe (rlampe@mathcs.richmond.edu)
Fri, 19 Sep 1997 12:54:28 -0400 (EDT) 

On Fri, 19 Sep 1997, David S wrote:
> 
> I don't think Cheers, Taxi, or MASH had anything that shows today don't
> have. You just gotta know where to look. There is more quality stuff on TV
> now than ever before... and it's nothing to get upset about. If "Seinfeld"
> makes you laugh (it sure as hell does me), then it's FUNNY! I like to read
> too, but TV and books don't necesarily have to be arch enemies. People say
> that TV ruins kids' minds, shortens their attention span. Now, because of
> TV, kids can't be entertained by the same simple things that their parents
> were. Hey, maybe that's evolution? I think it's a GOOD thing...


And no one is saying TV and Books are arch enemies, are they? But there
is a difference between reading and passive watching. If passively
watching is what you like to do, no one is saying you can't do it. But with 
children, my children at least, without the presence of some `controlling
authority', they would happily sit in front of a television ten hours (or
more) a day.

I like Snickers Bars too, but that doesn't mean I would eat them for
breakfast, lunch and dinner; but believe me - my children would if they
could.  The habit I think that is dangerous (well, maybe not dangerous,
how about just undesirable?) to instill in children is this passive
expectation of entertainment.  Television provides the medium through
which you can sink into that passivity.  The intellectual frame of mind
you are in when you seek to identify and relate various levels of
meaning in a serious piece of fiction is far different from the frame of
mind I am in when I watch Tom and Jerry re-runs.  

And if you've spent your boyhood/childhood/youth watching Tom and Jerry
re-runs, just how much inclination and patience do you think you will have
later on to tackle Ulysses?

And finally...    

If you think attention spans have not changed because of television, you
have not taught a course in mathematics recently!  Then again, perhaps I
am a hopelessly boring lecturer!

RickL