”TV is used as an instrument for social control and shaping people’s thoughts. Advertising techniques are used not only during commercial breaks to sell products but also to change how we think and feel about issues in our society.”
”Our opinions and attitudes, ranging from domestic violence, drug abuse, divorces, and motherhood to immigration and ethnic groups, are carefully manipulated by decisions made behind the scenes.”
Psychologist Bill O’Brien has said that the most unexplored area in the world is the space between our ears. Several studies show that the human brain is much more advanced than previously thought. It can absorb all kinds of materials when presented in the right way and at the right time.
Previously, it was believed that the brain became more rigid as we grew older. However, research in recent decades has shown that the brain never stops changing and adapting. The long-held belief that brain cells cannot be regenerated has proven false. In fact, we gain new healthy brain cells daily, but they will die if they don’t find work to do.
Learning is defined as the ability to acquire new knowledge and skills through instruction or experience, while memory is the process by which knowledge is retained over time. The brain’s ability to change through learning depends on its plasticity, its malleability.
Because the flow of information never ceases and we continue to learn new things throughout our lives, the brain must constantly reshape and adapt to the information it receives. The brain remains malleable throughout life, and its functional and structural appearance is shaped by the information it receives, processes, and sends out. This has proven to be both a blessing and a curse.
The advantages are evident: thanks to its flexibility and adaptability, the brain is a wonderful instrument that helps us in various ways. Under the right conditions, people can develop fantastic skills that enrich both themselves and others. They can also acclimatize and adapt to various environments and circumstances.
The disadvantage is that our sensitivity and susceptibility to external stimuli can be used against us because they are not always beneficial or directly harmful. Professor George Gerbner at the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania conducted studies in the 1960s that showed the profound effects of television on our worldview and the greater impact of excessive television viewing on how we perceive reality compared to our daily lives in society.
In 1971, Professor Herbert Krugman conducted a study showing that it only takes 30 seconds to enter a kind of hypnotic state after turning on the television, during which we do not analyze the information being presented. This is related to the frequency at which TV images are displayed, which is similar to the stage of hypnosis. We relax and switch off the analytical left side of the brain, allowing the frontal lobe to have less contact with the rest of the brain, making us more receptive to suggestion and uncritically absorbing the information we are exposed to.
Dr. Aric Sigman’s brilliant book ”Remotely Controlled” from 2005 demonstrates how children, in particular, are influenced and harmed by television. Sigman writes about how the frontal lobe, which plays a vital role in planning and organizing self-control, morality, and attention, is altered when we watch television. He argues that television viewing in childhood can damage the frontal lobe since it is in a constant stage of development until around the age of 20.
Children also burn fewer calories when watching television compared to simply sitting and doing nothing. Television watching makes us overweight, more prone to diabetes, heart attacks, and cancer, Sigman claims. It has also been shown that countries like Bhutan have experienced a sudden increase in violent crime since the introduction of television. Sigman also quotes a large study in the Journal of the American Medical Association that shows:
”If the TV technology had hypothetically never been developed, there would be 10,000 fewer murders, 70,000 fewer rapes, and 700,000 fewer injurious assaults each year in the US. Crimes would be half of what they are today.”
The effects are measurable and long-lasting, Sigman argues, and further explains:
”If someone were to invent an instrument designed to work against what underpins and enhances our society’s happiness, nothing could be more effective than TV.”
Sigman also writes about how television is used as an instrument for social control and shaping people’s thoughts. Advertising techniques are used not only during commercial breaks to sell products but also to change how we think and feel about issues in our society. TV is the most effective way to persuade you to adopt the ”right” values, says Dr. Sigman, and writes that:
”Today, we are overwhelmed by the most effective means of social engineering ever devised. Our opinions and attitudes, ranging from domestic violence, drug abuse, divorces & motherhood to immigration and ethnic groups, are carefully manipulated by decisions made behind the scenes.”
The conclusion of the studies is clear: if you want to be healthier and happier, reduce your TV watching. Many injustices and consequences that can be attributed to television can be dramatically reduced or eliminated altogether by controlling how much and what type of TV programs we watch.
This is especially true for young children, Dr. Sigman explains. The American Association of Pediatrics recommends that children under two years of age should not watch TV at all, and that no young children should ever have a TV in their bedroom.
This is not to say that everything shown on TV is harmful, or that TV itself is inherently bad. Television is a brilliant invention, and like everything else, it can be used in a good or bad way. Although most of what is shown is junk, and much of it aims at manipulation, there are, of course, always gems. The more self-aware and intelligent the viewer is, the better, hopefully, their selection process will become.
Professor Howard Gardner at Harvard University talks about different types of intelligence within people:
• Linguistic intelligence – Our ability to read, write, and communicate with words.
• Logical intelligence – Our ability to analyze and calculate.
• Musical intelligence – Our ability to create and perform music.
• Spatial/Visual intelligence – Our ability to create and navigate, etc.
• Kinesthetic or physical intelligence – Our ability to dance, practice sports, perform, etc.
• Interpersonal intelligence – Our ability to relate to others.
• Intrapersonal intelligence – Our ability to self-awareness and self-insight.
Intrapersonal intelligence shows itself, among other things, in our ability to communicate with our subconscious in a more conscious way, thereby opening up aspects and insights about ourselves that otherwise remain unknown to our conscious selves but still influence us in our daily lives. It also contributes to us developing our intuition.
The more self-awareness we have, the more we are also in tune with ourselves and why we react or behave in a certain way. When we begin to work more consciously to increase our self-awareness, we also become more aware of how we interact with and are influenced by our environment. It becomes easier to choose to exclude things that manipulate and harm us in favor of things that promote and enrich us during our journey through life.
Sources:
www.thelearningweb.net
www.aricsigman.com
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