After considering our discussions of Gore and Winn, answer the following prompt by posting your response as a comment below:
In a well-developed paragraph summarize and describe the negative effects that Winn
sees in habitual TV watching. Does Gore agree with her sentiments? In a second paragraph, discuss some ways in which these two
authors’ arguments compare and/or contrast? Use at least one direct
example from each of these texts in your response. (Due 10/23)
ReplyDeleteMarie Winn in T.V. Addiction, points out the negative effects that habitual television watching causes, and shares few testimonials of individuals that have dealt with this matter. According to Winn, a person who is a television addict no longer has the desire to engage in other activities, watching T.V. is just their favorite thing to do. Watching television can make someone loose sense of time because it makes them “blot out the real world and enter into a pleasurable and passive mental state” (210). In other words, a person gets so concentrated into what’s going on TV without realizing how long it has been since he/she started watching TV. Winn believes that TV addiction “weakens relationships by reducing and sometimes eliminating normal opportunities for talking, for communicating” (211). The time wasted watching TV shows does not help you pay your bills could be more beneficial if used in spending quality time communicating with family members or significant people to you. Through communication you can learn, grow as an individual, and the ties in your relationships remain strong and stable. At the end it doesn’t matter how much or for how long you watch TV “yet television does not satisfy” (211). Winn reports that psychologist Robert Kubey found in a research that “while television can provide relaxation and entertainment…it still rarely delivers any lasting fulfillment” (215). I agree with Winn’s arguments but I also believe that whether to be a TV addict depends on the person. You get to set your priorities and therefore choose if watching TV is more important to you than anything else.
Gore on The Assault on Reason mentions how our society is being affected by television and shares views similar to those of Winn. Both writers believe that television addicts can spend hours and hours watching TV. Gore notes that “while American television watchers were collectively devoting hundred millions hours of their lives each week… our nation was in the process of more quietly making…catastrophically mistaken decisions…” (4). Just as Winn affirms that people watching TV looses track of time, it makes them miss out on important things concerning their surroundings. Also, Gore implies in his writing that people are becoming less interested in other activities besides watching TV. For example, Gore states that "millions on Americans have simply stopped reading newspapers" (7). Winn argues that television "renders other experiences vague and curiously unreal while taking on a greater reality of itself" (211). I think this could be well explained by Gore who states "the simulation of reality accomplished in the TV medium is so astonishingly vivid and compelling" (19). The images presented on television makes viewers feel it so real, just as if they were living the moment.
As brought out by Marie Winn in the article " TV Addiction", people tends to loose their sense of time because they are enjoying the shows they are watching. It makes it very hard for them to come back to reality. Tv watching entices the people that watch it.Due to this, they do not engage in other activities that might be good for their health. As winn brought out the people mostly feel that " they ought to do something" but they don't do it because they find TV watching more desirable than the things they have to do.(pg.210&211)A testimonal was made by one person who realted that when they first had Tv, she will watch it all the time for hours and she felt tired and she always felt anxious because she realizes the time that had been wasted watching Tv.( pg.211&212)
ReplyDeleteGore also agreed with " Tv addiction" in his article " The Assault on Reason" when he stated how much people spend watching Tv.he stated that even though people use things such as radio, ipod, the internet and many others, watching television is the most domaint one. People always turns to watching it when they are tired, sad, or even happy. He then stated the fact that Americans watch tv 4hours and 35 minutes everyday.(pg.6) They tend to loose the sense of what is important or rather the sense of time.This is in complete union with what Winn said in her article.
Professor D’Amato
ReplyDeleteArline Tejada
E journal #4
The negative effects that Winn points out that watching television has is that people loss the sense of time once they starting watching TV. They become to engaged and occupied in watching TV that they don’t realize how much time they have wasted. According to Winn’s article, “ In a way, the lives of heavy viewers are as unbalanced by their television…” (211). In this sentence Winn is describing to us how television viewers don’t live a normal and healthy lives. Another effect of television viewing in Winn’s article is that television addicts find that the only thing worth doing is watching television at all times. Viewing addicts only find desirable watching TV that’s the only thing on their mind. One more effect that television has is that television does not satisfy the peoples needs but the viewers still feel the need to keep on watching. Gore would most definitely agree with Winn’s statements. Gore in his article brings up the point that television has changed the way we look at things and reason. Gores point in the way television has shaped us is has some of the same points Winn brings in his article.
Both authors Gore and Winn bring up the topic of television. To begin with Gore brings up television in his article but he attaches it with our democracy. He implies that our democracy is in danger because people are losing the sense of reason as a result of watching television. In the article Gore says “ Why has Americas public discourse become less focused and clear, less reasoned?” (2). He is saying that our democracy because of the people viewing too much television has loss its sense of having reason for making decision. In the other hand the author Winn also brings up the topic of television but in contrast with Gore he implies that people are addicted to watching television and don’t know when to stop. He says that people really have an addiction with television viewing. In Winn’s article a heavy television addict said, “ I watch TV the way an alcoholic drinks” (213). Winn is saying that TV viewing is just a severe and serious as an alcoholic addiction would be.
The author, Winn sees negative effects in habitual television watching. One negative effect can be the weakening of a relationship because couples communicate less being so distracted and occupied by the T.V. Television distorts the sense of time, its time consuming and unproductive. People watch it throughout their entire evening and don't even realize it. When people get addicted to T.V, they feel like other activities like taking a walk,playing a game or exercising are less desirable. Another negative effect is T.V addicts feel like other experiences are vague and unreal. They watch many dramas and sitcoms which are highly exaggerated and unrealistic, that the real life situations seem boring and bland. I feel that Gore would agree with the author Winns, sentiments because he forms a few arguments in which people choose entertainment over anything, even the news.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the two authors, Gore and Winn, both make valid and contrasting arguments. In Gores article “The Assault on Reason” on page 7 paragraph 2 he states, “ If its not on television, it doesn't exist.” This quote interprets how television provides reality for us addicts. It is like a nourishment, something we need in our life. Hes trying to say how people made their lives revolve around T.V. T.V provides unreal entertainment which we prefer because our lives compared to that are dull and boring. A contrasting quote from Winns article, “T.V Addiction” on page 210 paragraph 3 states, “The television experience allows the participants to blot out the real world and enter into a pleasurable and passive mental state.” What Winn is trying to explain to us is that we let this machine take precedence over our lives. The television takes us into a state of relaxation , active engagement and entertainment. It involves the least amount of skill, and makes other activities seem to take too much effort. So to conclude the quotes of the authors Winn and Gore, the reason why people get so addicted to T.V is because it is a relaxing and is a pleasurable activity.
In the article "TV addiction" by Marie Winn, Winn argues how tv is bad for our society and the following generation to come. Winn makes valid arguments such as how viewers will watch endless hours of Tv yet is always let with a feeling of disatisfaction and anger towards themselves for wasting so much time, yet people still continue to watch TV on regular basis.Its an endless cycle that people always fall into to.Turck also acknowledges the negative effects that TV have on people." over 13 years of the average persons life will be spent in front of the television"(turck 1).Gore also admits that watching TV can falsely give us information and can affect how we percieve our nations problems."If it's not on television, it doesn't exist"(Gore 7).
ReplyDeleteAll of these authors point out how TV will affect kids.All of them being negative effects physically and mentally.Turck points how watching Tv at such a young age will develpoment attentional problems.Gore explains that younger americans will watch more Tv throughout there llife then the average adult.Winn admits that children are most likely to be addicted at a younger age without even relaizing it and even develope withdrawal symptoms."He'd crawl all over the furniture.He just didnt know what to do with himself, and it seemed to get worse each day"'(Winn 214).
From Winne’s article, he mentioned many negative effects that TV can bring to people. one of the negative effects that TV can have is too feeble the relationship among the people around us. This means, when people spend too much time watching TV, they do not feel like communicating with others because they think the television is more important than anything else. Also, Winne mentioned another negative effect television can have is that “ it renders other experiences vague and curiosity unreal while taking on a greater reality for itself”.(Winn 211) This shows that people would change the way they look at the world, because since they focus more on TV, and they would believe whatever televisions are saying is very true. When they turn off the television and face the real world, they would feel that the real world make them feel disappointed, because the real world is different from the world on t.v.
ReplyDeleteGore and Winne they both informed us about televisions. But they provide different ideas of television. In Gore’s article, it stated the benefits of watching television in certain situations. According to the article “The Assault on Reason”, Gore states, “Moreover, as advertisers quickly discovered, television’s power to motivate change in behavior was also unprecedented.”(Gore 8) In this quote, we can see that the best way for people to know about your products or other things is to do have advertisements on TV. In the Winne’s article, he mostly talks about the negative effects that people have when they are addicted to the television. In the article of Winne, he says, “ In this way television viewing, for those vulnerable to addiction, is more like drinking or taking drugs—once you start it’s hard to stop.” (Winn 210) This quote tells us that when people are addicted to the television, they would totally loose their self-control to stop watch television.
ReplyDeleteIn the text, “TV Addiction”, Marie Winn shows how habitual TV watching can have negative effects on people. Using the testimonials from various groups of people such as teacher, shop owner, lawyer, homemaker, and mother, she shows that watching TV can be very addictive. It can also make person lose track of times, and make them lazy by not letting them participate in other activities. Furthermore, she compares TV addiction to smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. Winn writes, “Television viewing…is more like drinking or taking drugs---once you start its hard stop” (210). To further show the addiction, she also writes, “A mother reported: ‘my ten-year-old son is as hooked on TV as an alcoholic is hooked on drink (214). Al Gore, the author of the novel, “The assault on Reason”, would also agree with Winn because Gore also argues that television can have negative effect on peoples lives such as changing their behaviors, and the way they think.
Gore and Winn both argues that watching TV can have negative effect on people’s lives. One way in which both of these authors prove their argument is by showing that watching TV changes people’s activities like reading. Winn writes, “Self-confessed television addicts often feel they “ought” to do other things---but the fact that they don’t read...means that those activities are no longer as desirable as television viewing” (211). In the similar way, Gore also writes, “Reading itself is in decline, not only in our country but in most of the world. The Republic of letters has been invaded and occupied by the empire of television” (6). Even though, Winn and Gore both argues that TV has negative effect on people’s lives, Winn focuses his argument more on TV being addictive, and making people lazy, while Gore focuses it on it affecting the country’s democracy.
In Winn’s article TV Addiction, she sees habitual TV watching as a serious addiction, almost as if it were to a drug or even alcohol. She states that watching TV in excess can cause one to lose track of time. People can get so caught up on watching TV, that before they know it, their whole day has been wasted just on that. This can cause them to feel tired and lazy making other activities less preferred. The time that could have been used to do other things such as communicating with others, decreases if not completely becomes eliminated. This can lead to the loss of relationships that they may have had with family and friends. The thing about watching TV is that it does not satisfy. No matter how much you watch it, it is never enough. A lot of people don’t watch TV because they want to anymore but because it has simply become a need. Some people have even reported experiencing withdrawal symptoms when they do not do so.
ReplyDeleteGore and Winn can both agree that watching TV frequently can encourage people to become passive. They believe that television changes people's way of thinking and even acting. In Gore’s text The Assault on Reason, he focuses more on how TVs can influence one’s thoughts. He believes that it is being used to make us believe what the government wants, almost as if they are brain washing us. Gore claims “if it’s not on television, it does not exist” (7). This shows how big of a role TV plays in most people’s lives. He also explains how the market place of ideas is now diminishing and being replaced by the commercial market place. He believes that this new market place is being used to telling us what to think through commercials etc. Winn on the other hand is concerned of all the negative effects of habitual television watching as a whole. She is more worried about the addiction that comes with habitual TV watching rather than how it can influence our thoughts. “A person may no longer be watching television because of simple want, but because he or she virtually has to” stated Winn (215). This shows how much of a need watching TV has become for a lot of people.
In the article “TV addiction” by Marie Winn, is mostly on how TV addiction could be real and a bit dangerous. Winn explains why it might be an addiction by giving examples of people who claim they were addicts and how it affected them. The negative effect of habitual television watching is basically the addiction behind it. Many people, who are addicted to TV, cannot literally take their eyes off of the television and can’t live their lives normally without watching some TV, even if it’s before going to bed. Another problem that Winn mentions in her article is that people lose touch of reality basically when they watch television. “The television habit distorts the sense of time. It renders other experiences vague and curiously unreal while taking on a greater reality for itself.” (pg. 211) People don’t realize what’s real or not because television gives you a whole different view of life and also when you watch TV, you lose sense of time. You could say to yourself, I’m watch TV for an hour, next thing you know it’s about 3 hours in and you don’t even realize it.
ReplyDeleteIn Gore’s article, Assault on Reason, he mentions on how America as a whole has a problem with television. Gore can definitely agree with Winn’s statements because they basically both come across that people do have a problem with watching too much television. It has gotten to the point that all we know of is television and all our information comes from television. Gore stated, “If it’s not on television, it doesn’t exist.” (pg.7), although that doesn’t really show how television is addicting, it goes to show how reliable to television we are.
In the article TV Addiction, Marie Winn argues over the negative effects of habitual TV Watching. She illustrates the feeling of being "hooked" and confirms it with people's testimonials of similar experience. Winn asserts that television addiction can turn to a point where it is irresistible or uncontrollable by the viewer himself. At one point or another, we're all guilty of watching television without actually wanting to.We continue to devote hours to watch any program.- "many people overestimate their control over television watching." Like any other fetish we deny that there is a problem to begin with, or think we can start with a different lifestyle whenever. Just like someone would about late sleeping habits. Winn points out that reading can Have a similar role of an experience of escaping the real world (at least temporarily) "but it's much easier to stop reading and return to reality than to stop watching television."(Winn 1)By that she means Reading takes more work therefore people don't mind being distracted from a newspaper or book. Many TV addicts as observed would much rather sit in front of a TV set an sit through a movie of a similar book that could've been read, or watch the news flipping channels rather than reading a column on the newspaper. This only supports her statement, "they are living in a holding pattern, as it were, passing up the activities that lead to growth or development..." (2)Here she implies that this pattern becomes an unbreakable cycle of sitting around motionless with practically no effort nor activity. This is even worse for future generations who will participate in this activity, perhaps multiplying the amounts watched now.
ReplyDeleteGore agrees with Winn's sentiments She he notes "Reading itself is in decline, not only in our country but in most of the world." (Gore 6) Gore has a similar view with Win in reasoning the average time a person spends watching television. Likewise Win states "If television viewing is so bereft of value by most measures of well-being, and yet takes up the greatest part of people's leisure hours .. an addiction or simply a powerful habit."(Win 215)
In the article TV Addiction Marie Winn argues that television, like drugs damages the lives of those who consume a lot of what’s on TV. She describes the negative effects with the word “addiction”. One can make the analogy with vulnerable TV viewers to addiction and those who drink and take drugs, that once you start it’s hard to stop. Winn mentions the detrimental effects saying, “TV weakens relationships by reducing normal opportunities for communicating” (211). The reality is that TV is damaging society, remotely controlling the vulnerable because it almost irresistible for them to get away. Turck agrees with Winn’s nation because he believes that TV shouldn’t take up an unreasonable amount of your time. It is ones job to balance their time and not just that there are other alternatives rather than just wasting many hours watching TV. Gore agrees with Winn’s opinion as well by letting the public know that we must not saturate ourselves into watching TV 24/7 because we become passive and tend to lose our inability to
ReplyDeletereason, logic, and to seek the truth.
Both Gore and Winn’s arguments compare to each other. First of all they both come of aggressive on the awareness of society being damaged by the television. Gore informs us by saying, “TV, by contrast, present to its viewers as much more fuller formed representation of reality without requiring the creative collaboration that words have always demanded”(20). It could be said that there is mental work that is required in the process of reading, reasoning, communicating which is something special because you have come to realty with these factors and with TV you can’t. Winn is pretty straight forward of describing her negative effects. She says, “Not unlike drugs or alcohol, the TV experience allows the participate to blot out the real world and enter into a pleasurable and passive mental state”(210). Winn is basically saying that those who are vulnerable to the TV cannot make up for the lost time that has been taken from them because it makes them feel as if they are in reality. The TV has them so drawn in that it distorts the sense of time, it’s like you become mentally and physically impaired because you lose a sense of what’s going on in your surroundings and not being able to move because you’re glued to the TV.
In the article "The Television Addiction" by James F. Turck he states how "All these criteria can apply to people who watch a lot of television. That does not mean that watching television, per se, is problematic. Television can teach and amuse; it can reach aesthetic heights; it can provide much needed distraction and escape." (1) Turck explains how Television can be useful and advance our sense of knowledge, but also have an escape from the problems that we face today. I agree with some of the views because television has changed the world landscape due to the way we receive information. But it has also distorted the public in a sense that we depend on television for our entertainment and our general sense of whats going on in the world.
ReplyDeleteIn the article "TV addiction" the author Marie Winn makes a general correlation between Television addiction and drug and alcohol addiction. On page 211 Marie Winn states "Not unlike drugs or alcohol, the television experience allows the participant to blot out the real world and enter into a pleasurable and passive mental state". (211) This statement means that Television has the same triggers of addiction that drugs and alcohol have. In our brain we have triggers that attack our cravings which allow us to do whatever it takes in order to satisfy our craving or "fix". I agree with this quote due to the fact that Television is part of our essential daily lives. We need it in order to find out whats going on locally and nationally.
In Winn's and Gores articles they both express how tv has become a necessity and how people find themselves addicted to the materials broadcasted on tv. They talk about how the material has changed over the years and how it has diminished to trivial materiel. They both express their disappointment with the current materials running through media and how the public is so much eager to embrace them all.All while forgetting that there are far more pending and serious issues at hand.
ReplyDeleteHowever when we come to the specific content of Gore's article we realize that he touches more on the logical level produces as a result of this excess consumption of television and trivial media as a whole. What is important is no longer the priority but is placed on the back-burner. Winn on the other hand is simple concerned about the addictiveness of the material and how ones attention can be focused at a particular time on the materials projected almost as though there is nothing else that matters. Ignoring it all for this so to say useless activity that is television or internet.
In the article “TV Addiction” by Marie Winn, she discusses many negative effects of habitual watching of television that she has viewed. Loss/distortion of sense of time, lack of skill to prioritize, lack of communication, drainage of energy, and prioritization of television are the negative effects of habitually watching television and these can be seen throughout the article. Just like Winn, Gore clearly agrees with her sentiments based on the data that his article presents. I also agree with her sentiments too.
ReplyDeleteYou can see the way that these two authors compare to each other’s ideas. For example, on page 4, paragraph 4 in “The Assault on Reason” by Al Gore, and page 212, from line 12 in “TV Addiction” by Marie Winn you can see the similarity of ideas.
Watching television is so extremely popular nowadays, that living without TV is usually thought-out as a serious disadvantage. In "TV Addiction", Marie Winns uses the definition of addiction to analyze the negative effects of society's habitual TV watching. For instance, watching television gives people a chance to ignore the real world and enter a pleasant and lifeless mental state. Winn compares TV addiction to drinking and drug use- stating that "Once you start it's hard to stop and in a way, the lives of heavy viewers are as unbalanced by their television "habit" as drug addicts' or alcoholics' lives" (pg 1). She mentioned that: "They are living in a holding pattern, as it were, passing up the activities that lead to growth or development or a sense of accomplishment". "The television habit distorts the sense of tome. It renders other experiences vague and curiously unreal while taking on a greater reality for itself. It weakens relationships by reducing and sometimes eliminating normal opportunities for talking, for communicating" (pg 211 par 6-7). Winn also uses other sources to support her argument such as psychologists Robert Kubey and Mihaly Csikszenihaly concluded in their book about the television experience: "A long-held habit becomes so ingrained that it borders on addiction . . ." (pg 215 par 22). James R. Turck writer of "The Television Addiction", and "The Assault on Reason" written by Al Gore both concur with Marie Winn sentiments.
ReplyDeleteSome ways in which these three author's argument compare are how television has made an impact in American lives. Winn stated: "In spite of the potentially destructive nature of television addiction, it is rarely taken seriously in American society" (pg 213 par 15). Turck reported that: "The Radio Corporation of America started manufacturing color television sets on March 25, 1954, at its Bloomington, Indiana plant, helping to usher in "the wonderful world of color." Since that time, the number of households with TVs has steadily risen . . . most today do not remember a time without television (pg 1). Gore declares: "All of a sudden, in a single generation, Americans made a dramatic change in their daily routine, and started sitting motionless, staring at flickering images on a screen for more than thirty hours each week" (pg 7). Although all three authors show somewhat of a comparison on their arguments, James Turck seems more neutral rather than choose whether he's against or for it because he expressed that watching television, per se, isn't problematic.
In the article, Tv Addictions by Marie Winn is about the cause and effect on how much people watch television. She talks a lot about how tv has become an addiction. We spend most of our day watching tv she says. Winn also say that watching television is like an alcohol and a drug addict that person just wants more and more until they can't get enough on page two paragraph one. I do think that she is says that our health is also at risk and has an effect on kids mostly being obese. I think that most of the article that she wrote talks about the negative point of view about television.
ReplyDeleteI think Winn gets her point across when she says that the television has become a main point of our lives. She talks about the many reason why that is. She say that the tv has become like a fire place back in the days. She makes the similar reference because back in the old days the whole family gathered around the television and no a days we sit, eat, gather around the television. She gets most of her points across just like in Gore's article The Assault On Reason say that we are addicted to things and we rely on certain things just like Winn say in her article too.
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ReplyDeleteIn Marrie Winn's article "TV addiction" there are a lot negatives mentioned as a result to watching TV. Nowadays TVs are in almost every household and as a result there are many addicts.In the article "TV addiction" Winn states "[...] the television experience allows the participant to blot out the the real world and enter into a pleasurable and passive mental state"(210). She compares the experience of watching to the experience of drug use and alcohol. Where you turn away from reality and enter into a pleasurable mental state. In this article a lawyer reports "I watch TV tbe way an alcoholic.drinks [...] I'll watch any program at all, even if there's nothing on that especially appeals to me"(213). TV addicts cannot stop themselves from watching TV even when do realize they wasting their time. I think Gore agrees with Winn's sentiments, because both authors write about the negative effects TV has on the society.
ReplyDeleteBoth authors in articles "TV Addiction" and "The Assault on Reason" compare in their ideas of negative influence of television to the society. Gore's focuses more on the media and TV, and Winn focuses just on TV and the society, how it effects individuals negatively. TV has impacted our lives and impacted society negatively. In Winn's article it states "Self-confessed television addicts often feel they "ought" to do other things--but the fact that they don't read and don't plant their garden or sew or crochet or play games or have conversations means that those activities are no longer as desirable as television viewing"(211). Gore states in his article that TV has replaced the printing press and all news society get is from tv where now the story is "If it's not on television, it doesn't exist"(7). TV has now declined the numbers of readers and in this case newspaper readers, and in both articles it points out negatives the television has on society.
In Winn’s article, the narrator also compares television addiction to the Heroin and cookies. She mentions that there are positive and negative aspects toward television watching. “Not unlike drugs or alcohol, the television experience allows the participant to blot out the real world and enter into a pleasurable and passive mental state” (Winn, 1). Sometimes television does expand our thoughts, and it helps us to get to know things better and be more creative. However, Winn also mentions that “In this way television viewing, for those vulnerable to addiction, is more like drinking or taking drugs-once you start it’s hard to stop” (Winn, 1). The similarity that television and drugs both have is the users’ attempt to stop the addiction, but most of time it fail, because the television and the drug using become their most important entertainment.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, diversified advertising on television is a method for company to advertise their product, but it makes people watch it. As audience, we cannot avoid to look at those colorful advertising, and we also watch those advertising to get newest products and enrich our life. Advertising become a major scene on the television, no matter how people change channel, they are still there. Just like Al Gore’s opinion, “The purpose of television news now seems primarily to be to ‘glue eyeballs to the screen’ in order to build ratings and sell advertising” (Al Gore, 17).