Summary Of Watching Tv Makes You Smarter By Steven Johnson Summary

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Watching TV Makes You Smarter Summary We have been told all of our life that watching television is bad for our brains and our body. People say that television is supposed to distract us from what is really going on and “dumb us down”. However, in the story Watching TV Makes You Smarter, Steven Johnson says that shows that make us pay attention and follow the plot are actually nutritious to our brains, he calls this the Sleeper Curve. The Sleeper Curve you must pay attention to the show, track shifting, make inferences, and track the relationship of the characters. Johnson says that kids are also highly benefited by watching adult crime shows like 24. Children’s brains must work harder to understand what is happening in the show, from trying…show more content…
Johnson also states that adult and children can learn from each other by watching television. Johnson also talks about how there is good TV shows are there are bad TV shows. “You have to focus to follow the plot, and in focusing you’re exercising the parts of your brain that map social networks, that fill in missing information, that connect multiple narrative threads”(292). This quote tells us what we should be doing when watching a television show that is good for our brains. Shows like 24, Hill Street Blues, and The Sopranos are an example of the shows on television that make you smarter. These shows make you think by switching between characters and making the plot of the show more complicated. They make you think on your feet and make predictions on what is to come. These shows also challenge your brain by referring back to previous episode and making you think. Johnson also talks about how older television shows like Starsky and Hutch and Dragnet aren’t as good for you because they only have one dominant plot and reach a decisive decision at the end of the episode. The older shows also give you “flashing arrows” towards the outcome of the show while the newer

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