I've recently been thinking about how we seem to be blaming
a lot of our social disconnection on television and other technology. It’s true
that these things are partly responsible. People can get hooked on their
screens and forget about the real world around them. However, I began to wonder
why technology gets all the condemnation when something such as
borderline-obsessive reading is praised.
Growing up, TV wasn't my problem. I was the child who was
punished by getting my books taken away. My parents would get so frustrated
with me for ignoring the rest of the world in favor of a book. In fact, my mum
still hates it when I start a new book because, to her, it basically signifies
the end of all social interaction with me. So, why is it that something like TV
receives disapproval, while books are seen positively, even though both have
the same social effects?
I think, in general,
society views people who watch a lot of television as lazy, bad people with a
serious problem. Meanwhile, readers are considered intelligent and sophisticated.
I love this video because it kind of casts reading in a darker light, and
exposes it for the problem reading addictions can sometimes become. I showed
this to my mum and she absolutely loved it and claimed it was a much more
accurate portrayal of readers like me.
As you can see, I lead a pretty thug lifestyle, so watch out.
I can rock with this. T.V. does play a huge part but so does your own self motivation. And people do believe that but your not lazy necessarily if you watch T.V. a lot
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. My oldest son always got in trouble for reading books instead of doing classwork. I had to tell his teachers to feel free to take his books away. I worked with a man who had the same opinion. There are those of us who will stay up all night reading a good book and be no good the next day. There are also the same moral, sexual and violent themes found in books. Is there a difference reading them and seeing them? I guess it depends on your learning styles, and visualization abilities.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of books being seen as a time waster. It is interesting to see it from that perspective. But perhaps the reason our attention is more on people wasting their time on television verses books is because the majority of people waste their time on television rather than books. And I personally think that wasting time on books have more pros than wasting time on television.
ReplyDelete