Has T.V. and Technology of Today Ruined Us

People would argue today that because of the internet and television that we as a society can't think critically anymore. People are basically saying we are becoming a "dumb down" society do to the amount of TV and internet and other entertainment devices we us. I would have to disagree with these arguments. I will agree we don't spend as much time reading physical hard copy books as we used to as these statistics I got from http://dailysalty.blogspot.com will show.

• 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school
  
• 42% of college graduates never read another book
  
• 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
  
• 70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years
  
• 57% of new books are not read to completion.
  
• Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.
  

However, just because we aren't buying hard copies doesn't mean we aren't still learning. The internet has given us the opportunity to educate ourselves more about anything we so desire with a few keystrokes. If I want to learn about Egyptian culture all I have to do is go to Yahoo, Google, or Bing and type in Egyptian culture and I will have hundreds to thousands of sites to choose from. We now have online education, such as this class, were we have been given some of our material to read through links. The University of Phoenix is one of the most popular online universities right now and most of your text books are electronic books you download and read on your computer.

Another example other than just books is the newspapers. While less people subscribe to the newspaper to get their information on what is going on in the world; 3 out of 5 internet users read newspapers online each month.

According to a new comScore release, more than 123 million Americans visited newspaper sites in May, representing 57% of the total U.S. Internet audience, as the New York Times Brand led the category with more than 32 million visitors and 719 million pages viewed during the month. The average visitor viewed 22 pages of content on the New York Times. Tribune Newspapers ranked second in terms of audience with 24.8 million visitors, followed by Advance Internet and USA Today Sites.

Jeff Hackett, comScore senior vice president, said "… even as print circulation declines, Americans are actually consuming as much news as ever… it's just being consumed across more media," [he] said. "The Internet has become an essential channel in the way the majority of Americans consume news content today… 3 out of 5 Internet users read newspapers online each month…

www.resourceshelf.com

We have discussed in class that all the new technology we have has given us the ability to pick and chose what we read and be able to do it quickly without having to filter through several pages to get the info we want.

With television we have the ability to watch shows on History channel or Discovery channel and several other channels that will give information that can be useful. Though this information might not be the full story do to time restraints it gets a vast majority of knowledge out to the viewer; who can now go out and either read a book or surf the internet to get more information on a subject they may never thought about if they hadn't seed it on TV.

In conclusion do I believe technology such as TV or the internet has taken away our ability to think critically? No, I believe it has given us many more outlets to get information and allow ourselves the opportunity to think critically and learn more on a subject.

Do I think books will eventually become non-existent? I don't believe we will reach that point. While books may be reduced in publication I think there will always be people out there who will by the hard copies.

Should reasoning skills be taught in primary school?

Do I think children in primary school should be taught how to reason and think critically? Yes, I do. I feel it is important that children learn why or how something is what it is and not just because mom and dad said so or this is what the teacher said so it has to be right. I think as a whole today people have been relying on what others tell them so much that if you ask them why something is the way it is they will either just look at you, maybe with a blank expression, and say well that's what I have always been taught or told. I feel it is important we don't let our younger generation fall into this same slump the majority of us have. "If we teach children everything we know, their knowledge is limited to ours. If we teach children to think, their knowledge is limitless." www.criticalthinking.com We have been taught for so long now in elementary school read the assignment listen to the teacher, remember the answers and you will pass the homework, test, and that grade. By doing this you are limiting the child to what the teachers say as being the answer because that is what they said no ands, ifs, or buts about it. We should be teaching our kids how to open their minds and figure out how something got to be the way it was not just this is how it is and how it will always be. According to the website I mentioned earlier by teaching kids to use their minds at an early age (they even mention before preschool) they will absorb the knowledge and information and advance in their education level at a faster rate. They will also be able to comprehend what they are reading and why something works the way it does easier when the know how to "read between the lines." Having a more open mind and better understanding for something will also help a child as, they grow up and go through all levels of education, to do better on test and writing reports because they will be able to comprehend why the correct answer is correct rather than just using memorization. When we actively engage our minds we tend to be able to recall information better than when we just read for memorization.

Some might argue they are just kids let them have fun and enjoy life and I would agree with those who say this That is why it is important to make these learning experiences a game and not just a lecture. When we play games with our kids, instead of playing Mario Brothers, get a game that makes them use their brains and figure out how the game works and why they got to the end result.

I believe if we start at a young age we will have a very bright future ahead of us when our kids become adults and start making informed decisions about government related issues as well as going out into the work force because these critical thinking and reasoning skills will come more naturally.