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Edit: This in in response to Bob's question
quote: I'm curious, what about kids watching movies? Are they a useless experience as well?
Nope. And I don't necessarily think kids watching tv is a useless experience. I'll explain...
I, like you, have fond memories of watching tv with my family - in my case it was my Grandparents and The Bill (I didn't have a tv at home). I also loved the first movie I can remember (Follow That Bird!).
Where watching television is a rare event, or done as a social or family activity, then I have no problem with kids doing that if they are also encouraged to read.
However I don't think nowadays that this is the norm: rather (most) children watch tv on their own, a lot of the time, and don't read.
I have a problem when television is seen as the primary way of entertaining a child rather than reading.
Logistically, movies will rarely be seen, or used, as a means of regular entertainment, simply because of the expense. Even if a child is going to see a movie once a week, that's still only about 2 hours - as opposed to 30 (or more) hours of tv. Videos can be overused - and if a child is watching a video and so not reading then I think that is bad thing also.
Basically, because reading is more mentally stimulating and so important to a child's development, I think all children should be encouraged to read. If this can be done in conjunction with them watching moderate amounts of tv, then that's great. ( However I also think that there isn't much good children's television. So if a child is watching a lot of tv, the chances are they are either watching absolute dross, or watching things inappropriate for their age group. )
But the reality of the situation is tv is addictive, and easy. (And it's not just easy for the kids - it can be so much easier on the parents to put on the Wiggles and leave a child in front of the tv then spending time reading aloud).
It may be the best solution to get kids reading is just not have a television - then it's not an issue.
quote: I ask because my grandmother has a really, really awful taste in books, and I HAVE browsed that God-awful selection when I'm visiting and run out of my own.
Admitting you have a problem is the first step, Tom. Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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I miss watching TV with my grandmother. Somehow it seemed more fun or maybe the shows were better back then or something.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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The only reason I watch Wheel of Fortune is I used to watch it with my Grandmother every time I went to stay with her (she and my grandfather lived interstate).
She died when I was 11, so I guess it's a way of hanging on to the memories. I do logic puzzles for the same reason.
Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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I used to believe those people who said there was good stuff on tv, just it was stuff I was missing because I don't watch tv. But then several times I actually caught episodes of the shows that they said were good, and they were okay, better than most television, I admit, but I have to think the only reason anyone thought they were actually GOOD (in a compared-to-books kind of way) was because they are so completely used to stuff that's on television. And how bad to mediocre it is. That's how it seems to me. Even the very best stuff I've ever seen on tv is only on the level with a fairly ordinary everyday book for me.
One thing I can think of that was really great. "Eyes on the Prize", the first series called that, that ran on PBS when I was in college or sometime around then. (Early 80s, maybe.) It was electrifying and life changing for me. And no book I have read about the civil rights movement, or in the course of my African-American studies has been so good. I wish I could get that on DVD. I'm sure it's probably available.
Other things I liked that I can think of, in every case I can think of something in print media that's much better on the same subject. (Non-fiction, I mean.) The fiction stories on tv I've seen don't even come close to the best fiction I've read in books. They aren't even in the running.
Posts: 968 | Registered: Sep 2003
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What exactly were these shows people were telling you to watch?
Have you seen Seinfeld, the Simpsons, Futurama, or Conan O'Brien? Or what about the various anime that play on cartoon network, or saturday morning cartoons? Or sports for that matter? Most of these hold their own against a good book, at least according to me.
Posts: 8120 | Registered: Jul 2000
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I loved PBS! PBS had on whole operas and music programs and the best movies! Eyes on the prize was such a good documentary. Painful as hell seeing young men dangling from trees. Damn I hate that. I saw my first Kurosawa movie on PBS which was Ran. And also my first Japanese anime in Japanese! PBS was great for letting me know there was a larger world out there. I loved watching the nature shows as well.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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"The fiction stories on tv I've seen don't even come close to the best fiction I've read in books."
Have you considered that you are not as visual a person as others might be? After all, you've repeatedly insisted that the Internet is as "real" a world as the real one; this suggests, to me, that you are able to very strongly identify with the written word.
Given this, it's not unusual that you would prefer books in all circumstances.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Tom, I think that's where I come from. Even in dreams. I have a better time when I dream I'm reading a book about doing something I love, moreso than just dreaming about doing it. I used to soothe myself to sleep as a child by imagining a big picture book with miscellaneous words appearing on the pages.
So I'm pretty sure I don't have the same experience of the world in real life as many of my friends do. Music, certainly, is something I miss out on. But the books are so sweet.
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