All TV is bad?

Tom Buskey tbuskey at gmail.com
Mon Jun 20 08:09:00 EDT 2005


On 6/19/05, Jim Kuzdrall <gnhlug at intrel.com> wrote:
> On Saturday 18 June 2005 10:39 pm, Tom Buskey wrote:
> > > Don't bother with the TV. You're not missing anything. Really.
> >
> > I can agree that watching TV is probably better for you, but nothing
> > on?  Well...
> >
> > I like many of the history and science stuff that gets on PBS,
> 
>     The last time we had a TV set up was 1987.  I gave up on the
> "history channel" type programming just after the news and just before
> WKRP reruns.
> 
>     The educational documentaries have two problems: information rate
> and information depth.
> 
>     To demonstrate this point to your satisfaction (or not), write out
> the dialog from one such program you find typical.  (Sometimes you can
> get a transcript from their web site.)  Since the video is just pretty
> pictures, this transcript is all of the information the program offered
> you.
> 
>     Less than two pages usually holds all the information in a 30 minute
> program.  With the simple words and short sentences, an average reader
> can get through it in 5 minutes.  I can't waste an half hour to get 5
> minutes of information.  I might justify it to make me sleepy prior to
> bed, but I read the gnhlug-discuss for that.
> 
>     The content depth is set for the education level of an 11-year old
> child.


I don't disagree with your points, but when I watch TV, I don't give
it my adult attention.  I give it part of it while I look over the
laptop screen.  Sometimes I hear/see something I want to google on.  I
also see things I'd never hear about otherwise.

For sports (I watch volleyball and motocycle racing) I haven't found
much on the internet.  It's much better to see Valentino Rossi
"backing it in" on a corner then hearing or reading about it (and Tivo
to watch it again, did he really do that at 100MPH?).  For all you non
MotoGP fans, that's sliding the bike into the corner on purpose.  Ok,
maybe I pay more attention during the races :-)


-- 
The people I distrust most are those who want to improve our lives but
have only one course of action.
- Frank Herbert



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