According to a recent scientific study of older women, those with a preference for daytime talk shows and soap operas had lower scores on memory, attention, and other cognitive skills. Women in the study who preferred news programs scored higher.
I've suspected this for years. The few times I've sat down and watched an episode of Oprah (I try to catch one per decade just to keep up), I could feel the brain cells dying. Most television shows have similar results; after the mindless dribble and emoting is finished, you may actually know less about the subject at hand. It's been said that you have more brain activity while asleep than while watching tv and I can believe it – daytime tv doesn't generally promote critical thinking.
The question about this study, however, is whether the tv shows are the cause or the effect. Does the passive reception of emotional dreck cause the loss of cognitive skill? Or does the loss of cognitive skill draw listless people to shows of no consequence?
I'm not against occasional fruitless entertainment (I'm watching Survivor, aren't I?) but we have to recognize what large doses of mindlessness might do to you – you could end up, well… mindless. So go watch the news or a documentary, read a book or work a crossword puzzle. Learn more about the history of world affairs than the history of celebrity affairs. You'll find yourself better equipped to discern the truth if you do.
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