TV good?

"The 'average' American will spend in excess of seven years watching television"

Geez. . .I love my TV, but it's a wonder what I could accomplish if I didn't have one. Most of my TV watching is sports releated. Occassionaly, I will watch a program on the History Channel or Discovery, but as far as network television goes I rarely watch. I used to watch much more network television when I was younger. This was the case because I lived in an area that did not have cable. We were able to receive three channels, and two of those where the same network from different cities! During my high school and college years my TV watching centered around Thursday nights on NBC. I watched The Cosby Show, Cheers, and Seinfeld. Seinfeld was the last show I watched religiously. Now, as I channel surf, I will occasionally watch an rerun of Scrubs or get sucked into an episode of "Flava of Love" (good grief), but mostly I'm watching some sporting event. Typically, if the Cowboys or the Aggies are on, I'm going to be watching.

I'm not sure if I can agree with Johnson premise that TV is making us better cognitive thinkers. I can agree that perhaps our visual spatial skills have improved, but I cannot condone more TV watching for the sake of TV watching. I understand his arguments that TV shows have gotten more complex. The plots are now multi layered; there is less "flashing arrows." But, my main bone of contention is that he parallels his premise on the supposed benefits of reading. So we find us smack dab in the middle of the literacy myth once again.

Watching television maybe intellectually stimulating if you are watching television critically. More to come.