quick and easy programming: nightly news programs show only fast paced snippets of news items and thirty-second commercials present the way to happiness through buying the right products. Finally, the author believes that the trivial nature of television is affecting the way we think and communicate, causing our communication to become trivial as well. He presents the argument that there is a “crisis of literacy”. According to him, “30 million adult Americans are ‘functionally illiterate’ and cannot read or write well enough to answer a want ad or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle.” He thinks that television is contributing to this problem. It is just this kind of influence that he concerns him. He states, “I think this society is being force fed with trivial fare, and I fear that the effects on our habits of mind…are only dimly perceived.” It is our unawareness of television’s influence that he believes is so damaging to our society. Additional Tasks Visit the Take the Challenge Website: Under the Lessons Link, find the middle school eighth grade lessons. Under English/Language Arts there are two lessons. Choose one of the following to complete: Lesson 1: Media and Me Journal: Sample student response: Addressing media violence in our society is a big challenge. What do you believe is possible? What can you do? In my opinion, media violence is a real problem for children. I think that young people are becoming so used to images of violence in media that they feel violence is an acceptable part of society. I believe we need to find a way to lessen the amount of violence that children view in movies, on television and especially in video games. Programmers need to be made accountable for the violence they use to hook children in.
quick and easy programming: nightly news programs show only fast paced snippets of news items and thirty-second commercials present the way to happiness through buying the right products. Finally, the author believes that the trivial nature of television is affecting the way we think and communicate, causing our communication to become trivial as well. He presents the argument that there is a “crisis of literacy”. According to him, “30 million adult Americans are ‘functionally illiterate’ and cannot read or write well enough to answer a want ad or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle.” He thinks that television is contributing to this problem. It is just this kind of influence that he concerns him. He states, “I think this society is being force fed with trivial fare, and I fear that the effects on our habits of mind…are only dimly perceived.” It is our unawareness of television’s influence that he believes is so damaging to our society. Additional Tasks Visit the Take the Challenge Website: Under the Lessons Link, find the middle school eighth grade lessons. Under English/Language Arts there are two lessons. Choose one of the following to complete: Lesson 1: Media and Me Journal: Sample student response: Addressing media violence in our society is a big challenge. What do you believe is possible? What can you do? In my opinion, media violence is a real problem for children. I think that young people are becoming so used to images of violence in media that they feel violence is an acceptable part of society. I believe we need to find a way to lessen the amount of violence that children view in movies, on television and especially in video games. Programmers need to be made accountable for the violence they use to hook children in.
8.%20The%20Trouble%20with%20Television%20-%20Story.docx