Does TV truly "Rot Your Brain?"

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Here, we a re going to have a discussion on whether TV can actually "Rot Your Brain" or not.

Here's a bit from wikipedia about the TV, (history, workings, etc.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television#History

Now...TV has seen some amazing transformations. Color, Cable/Satellite, High Definition, blah, blah, blah...

Thing is, people out there say "TV rots your brain". Can it?

Well...

I believe the content of TV itself is the real problem, not the actual device.  Yes, the older TVs emitted Gamma Radiation, and other bad stuff, but really, it's not a question of a brain physically rotting, it's more like intelligence (and perhaps attention span) being depleted. 

Watching excessive amounts of TV, can be harmful for developing young minds.  Today's kid's shows are horrible nowadays.  There are more commercials than ever, and the shows themselves are crap (I've babysat, so I've seen the garbage on TV, I got up, turned it off and played a board game with the kids instead.  Thank God the kids didn't mind too much, since they already saw that episode.).

In my day, shows were either violent or obscene, and that's bad for kids, but not as bad as a show that's completely stupid.  A "stupid" show would be something lame like "Spongebob" or other garbage like that.  Also, TV has become the new pacifier for unruly kids. In my day, if kids misbehaved, they got smacked.  Today, if a parent tried that, they'd get some asshole tattletale calling CPS (the American Secret Police) on them.

The thing is, TV allows kids to watch something without going brain active.  Today's shows especially don't encourage kids to think, at least in my day we had a few good shows that encouraged us to think ("Are You Afraid Of The Dark?", "The Adventures of Shelby Woo." and shows like that were awesome!).

There are still some good shows out there, but for the most part, there's a load of crap.  I hate studio audience laugh tracks, I refuse to watch any show with that.  Reality TV is mostly garbage... Speaking of which, MTV has single-handedly messed up a generation or two.  Bastards.  Awful programming!

Yeah...

So...

Feel free to offer your two cents here, but please keep it civil.

[Sabre]

Well gramps this has been slammed down multiple times. TV only trigger violence in kids who are already violent, or at least that was my understanding.

There is an interesting trend in TV these days, with various apolagists. That trend is that shows are dumber, but smarter. Allow me to explain.

Back in there day when you were a lad ect, there was a huge gap between commoner programing and high brow programing. These days people are smarter, and the minimum of shows complexity has increased, but a larger % of shows are now for the dumb market then before. There was a book on this entire subject.

4eg (not real stats)

before

50% really dumb stuff (dogs on fire. people falling over)

50% smart arse programs

now

90% sorta dumb stuff (simple soap opera. People making celebrity jokes)

10% smart arse programs

The biggest change has been the idea of so called 'water cooler' programing. The internet means anyone can watch anything, anytime the day after it airs. So, live shows and celebrity shows are designed in such a way you can't do that. If you don't watch it live, you will be the laughing stock of the work place because you won't know who celebrity X kissed last night ect. That's the theory anyway.

Another change is that of accountablity. No TV commishioner wants to rock the boat, as a result all programs are just rip offs of whats come before. (Come dine with me for example) The program has to be cheap and make money. They don't want to raise the bar of quality because that would mean all other shows would need a bigger budget to maintain the quality. If the shows fail, the studio loses money and dude get's fired. If the shows a hit, dude can't repeat the success and is fired. This is theory why extremely popular shows like Futurama, and FireFly are cancelled.

A more detailed explaination here

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ScrewedByTheNetwork

And then there's the news, which I wont go into as I've done so many times before here.

[Asper Sarnoff]

I'm (luckily ) not as old as you Julius, but I've also seen how television, especially for kids, have fallen into a rotting decadence during my short life. And that's one of the reasons why I don't watch television anymore save for the odd glimpse of Discovery/Animal/National Geograpic kind of channels and of course Top Gear.

It feels like I'm only getting stupider and stupider for every single second I have to watch some of the shows people seemingly enjoy these days, and I sometimes even get ashamed of it, of how another human being, the same species as me, can produce such revolting garbage.

[Sabre]

I'm (luckily ) not as old as you Julius, but I've also seen how television, especially for kids, have fallen into a rotting decadence during my short life. And that's one of the reasons why I don't watch television anymore save for the odd glimpse of Discovery/Animal/National Geograpic kind of channels and of course Top Gear.

It feels like I'm only getting stupider and stupider for every single second I have to watch some of the shows people seemingly enjoy these days, and I sometimes even get ashamed of it, of how another human being, the same species as me, can produce such revolting garbage.

Indeed. There is some nostalgia at play. For example, the original Transformers and Mask episodes are awful. I remember liking pokemon at one point. That said, there hasn't been a Buzz Lightyear, X-men or Gargoyles in years.

[ThePointingMan]

I'll tell you one thing T.V. rots in the now, it rots the ability to find a good T.V. show. Just watch Pinky and the Brain, or Animaniacs and boom, you hate tv from the now.

Anyways, I have the same question about music, not rotting the brain, but can it effect it.

[Kursed]

Here, we a re going to have a discussion on whether TV can actually "Rot Your Brain" or not.

Here's a bit from wikipedia about the TV, (history, workings, etc.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television#History

Now...TV has seen some amazing transformations. Color, Cable/Satellite, High Definition, blah, blah, blah...

Thing is, people out there say "TV rots your brain". Can it?

Well...

I believe the content of TV itself is the real problem, not the actual device.  Yes, the older TVs emitted Gamma Radiation, and other bad stuff, but really, it's not a question of a brain physically rotting, it's more like intelligence (and perhaps attention span) being depleted. 

Watching excessive amounts of TV, can be harmful for developing young minds.  Today's kid's shows are horrible nowadays.  There are more commercials than ever, and the shows themselves are crap (I've babysat, so I've seen the garbage on TV, I got up, turned it off and played a board game with the kids instead.  Thank God the kids didn't mind too much, since they already saw that episode.).

In my day, shows were either violent or obscene, and that's bad for kids, but not as bad as a show that's completely stupid.  A "stupid" show would be something lame like "Spongebob" or other garbage like that.  Also, TV has become the new pacifier for unruly kids. In my day, if kids misbehaved, they got smacked.  Today, if a parent tried that, they'd get some asshole tattletale calling CPS (the American Secret Police) on them.

The thing is, TV allows kids to watch something without going brain active.  Today's shows especially don't encourage kids to think, at least in my day we had a few good shows that encouraged us to think ("Are You Afraid Of The Dark?", "The Adventures of Shelby Woo." and shows like that were awesome!).

There are still some good shows out there, but for the most part, there's a load of crap.  I hate studio audience laugh tracks, I refuse to watch any show with that.  Reality TV is mostly garbage... Speaking of which, MTV has single-handedly messed up a generation or two.  Bastards.  Awful programming!

Yeah...

So...

Feel free to offer your two cents here, but please keep it civil.

all todays shows are crap that don't rot your brain but brainwash you... not to mention the stupid sterotpes displayed in them wheres the classic loony toons you know where I whatch Tv now? Discovery channel or on the computer because all cartonos like spongeboob and johnny mess are crap./

[Vy'drach]

I was going to mention Animaniacs myself there, Pointing, I used to actually learn stuff from that show, and it was funny for the whole family, the adults had things like Hello Nurse and Minerva Mink, and the kids had the comedy that was essentially classic slapstick. But they stopped airing it because they felt Hello Nurse and Minerva Mink were too mature for kids (And yet, they make Minerva even more mature in the Animaniacs comics, and I present exhibit A, ), and replaced that show with mindless things such as Chowder or Spongebob. Luckily Boomerang shows good classics such as Swat Kats and the like, and you can catch Gargoyles on Disney XD at about 3 in the morning, and I set it to record that.

[Hatsworth III]

tv dosen't affect me, i don't get more violent or stupid, only animes affect me, but in a positive way!  :D

[ThePointingMan]

I was going to mention Animaniacs myself there, Pointing, I used to actually learn stuff from that show, and it was funny for the whole family, the adults had things like Hello Nurse and Minerva Mink, and the kids had the comedy that was essentially classic slapstick. But they stopped airing it because they felt Hello Nurse and Minerva Mink were too mature for kids (And yet, they make Minerva even more mature in the Animaniacs comics, and I present exhibit A, ), and replaced that show with mindless things such as Chowder or Spongebob. Luckily Boomerang shows good classics such as Swat Kats and the like, and you can catch Gargoyles on Disney XD at about 3 in the morning, and I set it to record that.

Hahahaha, that reminds me of when I used to get up at 6:00 in the morning to watch spiderman everyday, I think that was like 2 years ago.

[Vy'drach]

Heh, I was a big fan of Batman: The Animated Series, you know, the one from like the early 90s that was darker and edgier than most cartoons at the time.

[Kursed]

Hahahaha, that reminds me of when I used to get up at 6:00 in the morning to watch spiderman everyday, I think that was like 2 years ago.

ahh the good ol' days

[ThePointingMan]

Good indeed, at least there is teletoon retro, but they coulda picked some better shows.

I kinda blame the lousyness of today's T.V. and some video games, on the fact that they are making programs do the hard stuff, making it easier to make stuff, but not as good a quality.

[ARWINGCOMMANDER 3987]

Here, we a re going to have a discussion on whether TV can actually "Rot Your Brain" or not.

Here's a bit from wikipedia about the TV, (history, workings, etc.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television#History

Now...TV has seen some amazing transformations. Color, Cable/Satellite, High Definition, blah, blah, blah...

Thing is, people out there say "TV rots your brain". Can it?

Well...

I believe the content of TV itself is the real problem, not the actual device.  Yes, the older TVs emitted Gamma Radiation, and other bad stuff, but really, it's not a question of a brain physically rotting, it's more like intelligence (and perhaps attention span) being depleted. 

Watching excessive amounts of TV, can be harmful for developing young minds.  Today's kid's shows are horrible nowadays.  There are more commercials than ever, and the shows themselves are crap (I've babysat, so I've seen the garbage on TV, I got up, turned it off and played a board game with the kids instead.  Thank God the kids didn't mind too much, since they already saw that episode.).

In my day, shows were either violent or obscene, and that's bad for kids, but not as bad as a show that's completely stupid.  A "stupid" show would be something lame like "Spongebob" or other garbage like that.  Also, TV has become the new pacifier for unruly kids. In my day, if kids misbehaved, they got smacked.  Today, if a parent tried that, they'd get some asshole tattletale calling CPS (the American Secret Police) on them.

The thing is, TV allows kids to watch something without going brain active.  Today's shows especially don't encourage kids to think, at least in my day we had a few good shows that encouraged us to think ("Are You Afraid Of The Dark?", "The Adventures of Shelby Woo." and shows like that were awesome!).

There are still some good shows out there, but for the most part, there's a load of crap.  I hate studio audience laugh tracks, I refuse to watch any show with that.  Reality TV is mostly garbage... Speaking of which, MTV has single-handedly messed up a generation or two.  Bastards.  Awful programming!

Yeah...

So...

Feel free to offer your two cents here, but please keep it civil.

SpongeBob's not meant to be a show that makes you think.

But yeah, too many god da@# commercials. I bet even kids are tired of that crap.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

I was going to mention Animaniacs myself there, Pointing, I used to actually learn stuff from that show, and it was funny for the whole family, the adults had things like Hello Nurse and Minerva Mink, and the kids had the comedy that was essentially classic slapstick. But they stopped airing it because they felt Hello Nurse and Minerva Mink were too mature for kids (And yet, they make Minerva even more mature in the Animaniacs comics, and I present exhibit A, ), and replaced that show with mindless things such as Chowder or Spongebob. Luckily Boomerang shows good classics such as Swat Kats and the like, and you can catch Gargoyles on Disney XD at about 3 in the morning, and I set it to record that.

I agree with you there.  I liked Swat Kats and Gargoyles, too, btw.

[X-Gamer]

Tv rotting your brain?

Actually, it depends what you watch.

Spending 5 hours watching cartoons may be worse than watching 5 hours of documentaries.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Tv rotting your brain?

Actually, it depends what you watch.

Spending 5 hours watching cartoons may be worse than watching 5 hours of documentaries.

Exactly.  Case in point. :yes:

[Matrilwood]

We have Pay TV, and the only channels we really watch are; CI channel, 13th Street, Animal Planet, Discovery, and occasionally SciFi.

The shows on these channels make you think (With the exception of Animal Planet) so it probably does the opposite of rott brains.

Although if Zombie Day ever arrived, I wouldn't be surprised if TV had something to do with it.

[Vy'drach]

We have Pay TV, and the only channels we really watch are; CI channel, 13th Street, Animal Planet, Discovery, and occasionally SciFi.

The shows on these channels make you think (With the exception of Animal Planet) so it probably does the opposite of rott brains.

Although if Zombie Day ever arrived, I wouldn't be surprised if TV had something to do with it.

Nah, it'll be cell phones.

And for those that don't know, it was a reference to Stephen King's novel, Cell, which was about zombies being caused by cell phones. Real good book, too.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

I have nothing against TV, I think it, and the internet, are great!

But, I do believe, if misused, then TV and the internet can potentially be bad...

[Vy'drach]

All technology is inherently neutral, it is only when it is applied by man does it becomes good or evil.

[Matt Macdowel]

all todays shows are crap that don't rot your brain but brainwash you... not to mention the stupid sterotpes displayed in them wheres the classic loony toons you know where I whatch Tv now? Discovery channel or on the computer because all cartonos like spongeboob and johnny mess are crap./

Ahem. After Armagadon, some other 2012 history crap does that not rot your brain cause it makes me mad everytime some one thorws 2012 that we are all gonna die!

[Vy'drach]

Actually, the way it is supposed to work is it is  2013 as the Mayan calendar doesn't work quite the way ours does. And many people believe it isn't actually the end of the world, but a better tomorrow as the way it was worded meant essentially, "It is the end of the world as you know it." Obviously that wasn't the exact meaning, but it was along those lines, and many people believe what it means is that something will happen that will completely revolutionize life, I however, believe it to be the potential end of nearly all life, given the state the world is in today.

[Matt Macdowel]

Actually, the way it is supposed to work is it is  2013 as the Mayan calendar doesn't work quite the way ours does. And many people believe it isn't actually the end of the world, but a better tomorrow as the way it was worded meant essentially, "It is the end of the world as you know it." Obviously that wasn't the exact meaning, but it was along those lines, and many people believe what it means is that something will happen that will completely revolutionize life, I however, believe it to be the potential end of nearly all life, given the state the world is in today.

ok.......................

there is some good shows on TV like Ghost adventures, movie stations, news, history (if u like history) and south park , but tv lost its patential now,  they don't enterne us like games do!

[Vy'drach]

I always received the same pleasure from South Park as I did from being beat over the head by a rusty pipe.

[Sabre]

Actually, the way it is supposed to work is it is  2013 as the Mayan calendar doesn't work quite the way ours does. And many people believe it isn't actually the end of the world, but a better tomorrow as the way it was worded meant essentially, "It is the end of the world as you know it." Obviously that wasn't the exact meaning, but it was along those lines, and many people believe what it means is that something will happen that will completely revolutionize life, I however, believe it to be the potential end of nearly all life, given the state the world is in today.

The best guess is they would party likes its 2999.