Response to "Thinking Outside the Idiot Box"

While reading Dana Stevens', "Thinking Outside the Idiot Box" I was picking up some strong vibes. Mr. Stevens strongly dismisses every attempt by Steven Johnson to prove T.V has any educational value. Although I can't help but to agree with him when he speaks of the 16 minutes worth of commercials on any given television episode can't be beneficial, I feel his arguments are weak and unimpressive for the most part. When he says "For those of us who grew up in the cave man days, fashioning cruel stone tools, while watching Starsky and Hutch" I was picking up that someone might be just a tad jealus. He even back tracks and admits shows like the Soprano's has a sophisticated plot, yet questions directly after, "Does that make you smarter?" Of course it does. If you read a book with a sophisticated plot are you going to question if it's making you more dumb? I don't think so. He even goes as far as to talk about the Telletubies. The nerve. He exclaims about the beloved series that it is only, "A tutorial for toddlers to learn the essentials of vegging out." First of all most of the humans who watch that are obviously very young so all they can really do at that point in their life anyway is veg out, and the telletubies were very active so I think on the contrary that teaches good life style habits. I think T.V is especially helpful when a child is young. There are so many shows that teach numbers, letters, colors, and morals now a days. I even occasionly watch nick jr. to brush up on my morals. After driving in Rockford traffic all day it is needed indeed. So I feel this article may be slightly out dated.