Has Television and the Internet Destroyed Americans' Ability to Read and Think Critically About Ideas?

A big remaining debate that rages upon us even to this day is the question whether or not television is impairing our ability to read and think critically. Think about it! How many of us now go to the library, pick a topic, and engage ourselves in countless hours of research pertaining to that topic. Many of us have turned our attention from books, and towards television. The color television was invented back in 1928, and has now transformed the way we live today. Many of us will spend an exponentially greater time viewing television, than we do reading a book.

A 1990 issue of The Harvard Education Letter reported: “The video screen is helping children develop a new kind of literacy - visual literacy that they will need to thrive in a technological world… In television or film, the viewer must mentally integrate diverse camera shots of a scene to construct an image of the whole.” This is an argument stating that television as actually helped us in reading and critical thinking. Some feel that watching television is the ultimate critical thinking experience as we must quickly and precisely distinguish right from wrong, real from fake, and yes or no. Many believe that television has made us, as a whole average, more critical thinkers.

On the flip side of this a man by the name of Jack Solomon states, “Television images lull us into thinking that they are real, that they aren’t iconic signs at all but realities. Since we see them, we trust them, often failing to realize that, like all signs, they have been constructed with a certain interest behind them.” This is the argument that many people also have. The fact that television is feeding us information and we are subconsciously choosing to accept it and feel that it is a fact. If it was on the news, than it must be true. We merely sit and consume the information without thinking critically. Questions such as where is this information coming from, is there a biased statement, and what is the other side of this story, is hardly ever asked.

Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451 states that this story is not about censorship, but a story about how television destroys interest in reading literature. He states, “Television gives you the dates of Napoleon, but not who he was.” I, personally, would have to agree with him. I feel that television, to a point, as impacted the ability to read and think critically. The thing that sticks in my mind is the amount of people today that have eating disorders, depression, and commit suicide for “not being good enough for society” When you read books, you paint the pictures in your head. You get a mental image of a character, and that is your image alone. When you are watching television you are exposed to “perfect” bodies, and this makes you feel depressed or bad about yourself. I also know for a fact that there are many people that will take anything they see on television and interpret it as a fact. We are mindlessly sitting in front of the television and letting what they say dictate for things such as who we vote for, or if someone is guilty or innocent. Both of these examples require critical thinking, but many of us are to lazy to do the research. For this reason, I do not think that we are heading toward a time when the authorities burn books for our own good. If anything, we need to promote more books and allow the human intelligence to be back in play.

http://www.laweekly.com/2007-05-31/news/ray-bradbury-fahrenheit-451-misinterpreted/

http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article202.html