Books vs TV: Literature's Losing Battle
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Growing up, I was allowed one half hour of television per weekday. If there was something else on that I wanted to watch, I had to tape it and watch it on the weekend (when I had an hour each day).
On playdates, my friends and I ran around the neighborhood playing pretend and exploring. We biked to the local candy store or to the playground at school. My parents didn't let us watch television on playdates; they were for playing.
My brother, just five years younger than me, spends a great deal of time playing video games and social networking on the computer. And while he does play outside, it's not the hours- of- playing- until- it- gets- dark that I used to do.
What Changed?
It feels like TV and video games have taken over. Granted, it's taken a good ten to fifteen years, but I think it's finally happened. I shudder to think what my kids will be doing for fun fifteen years from now...
The problem is that television and video games take away a great deal of the wonder of childhood. Reading a book, you have to fully engage your imagination. You have to connect the letters that you are reading to a full image, a whole world that you've created on your own. Television hands that to you.
The Effects
Everyone is always saying that Generation Y wants everything handed to them, and I think that this is why: everything is being handed to them in their recreational time. They don't have to work to get joy from a plot; they merely have to sit back and let the movie take them there.
And it's not lazy parenting, it's just parents having no idea of how to cope with the overwhelming influence of the digital age. It wasn't around when they were kids so they don't know what it feels like to be addicted to video games (and many, many kids are). Similarly, Generation Y doesn't know what it's like to have only the option of relying on your imagination and being forced to play with neighbors and explore the neighborhood.
Enjoying books makes children smarter by engaging parts of their brain that nothing else does. We can only hope that there is some sort of backlash against this digital takeover so we can get kids back to reading.
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Comments
It's so upsetting! What are kids going to be like when none of them enjoys reading?
I guess you're not called helenathegreat for no reason, you've touched on avery sensitive subject in your hub, thanks for a relevant and informative read, Cheers.
Btw, if you'd like to do something about it, feel free to check out this resource at: http://www.audiobookgiftshop.com and help put the learning power back into your control and kids hands, the results have been dramatic.
So very true! I'm feeling your pain. My children do not explore like I did in the woods pretending to be pirates, or cowboys, or explorers. They seem to be willing to sit and watch instead of creating.
I agree totally. I'm actually doing a research paper on this subject right now, and it's good to see people agree with opinions like mine.
Also, notice how here, the people reading this article and commenting on it type coherently and legibly, none of this, "omgz ur articlez is soooo good d00d" crap that is the bile of the internet. Devolution is coming via the internet and television.
read this counter-argument.
http://caritas2.blogspot.com/2006/04/television-vs
i couldn't put it better than the person in this link ^
Thanks for the link, zbad! That's an excellent little essay there. Television isn't necessarily the enemy; it's our inability to enjoy things in moderation. :)
I only half-heartedly agree. I am a parent of two boys, both of whom love video games and TV. I do not severely restrict their game time, except as a consequence of poor behavior. The TV is there when they want it. They still manage to find time to go play in the woods, and still crave the companionship of others. My son still loves to read books.
These technologies are new, and often frightening, but kids are not new, and neither is human nature. People will always want to be with other people, and will always enjoy fresh air and exercise, because such behavior is healthy and, as a result, written into everyone's DNA. Video is not going to change that.
I DO agree that there are problems with people being conditioned by an environment where instant gratification is the norm, but I don't think you can lay the blame on media alone. This is simply a inevitable result of the proliferation of technology in general. I don't think it's going to prove to be the end of western civilization. It doesn't take you hours to find and prepare food these days either, but no one complains about that. And people still remember how to hunt and fish....they just spend less time doing it.
If people read less in the future, it will be because they don't need to. And if they don't need to, then who cares?
In The Doghouse says:
2 years ago
I certainly hope that the backlash happens soon, reading is becoming a lost art!