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There’s a perception that books are good, while TV is baD. It is a common belief that all television gives us is entertainment and no knowledge whereas reading books makes us more intelligent and improves our brain power. Why is this a belief? Why is television said to be useless and something which does not give us any knowledge? Why can’t watching television be just as educational as reading a book?
If we read a book series it is supposed to give us more knowledge and supposedly said to increase our vocabulary and creativity whereas if we watch the same series on television it is said to kill our brain cells? This is what I do not agree to as books as well as television can be well written at the same time can be poorly written.
Scientifically, books are superior to television. A study was performed at Tohoku University in Japan. A team led by Hiraku Takeuchi examined the effects of television on the brains of 276 children, along with amount of time spent watching TV and its long-term effects.
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The researcher observed that the more television children watched, parts of their brain associated with higher arousal and aggression levels became thicker. The frontal lobe also thickened, which is known to lower verbal reasoning ability.
The more hours of television the kids watched, the lower their verbal test results became. These negative effects in the brain happened regardless of the child’s age, gender, and economic background.
A similar study was conducted where instead of watching television it was reading books. After reading a novel, the students had increased connectivity in parts of the brain that were related to language. There was also increased activity in the sensory motor region of the brain, suggesting that readers experienced similar sensations to the characters in the book.
There are also long-term effects from reading books. Reading keeps your mind alertand delays cognitive decline in elders. Research even found that Alzheimer’s is 2.5 times less likely to appear in elderly people who read regularly, while TV was presented as a risk factor.
Hence because of negative features of television it is considered to be a curse instead of a boon but television also has its advantages. watching international news on television , we are kept informed and up-to-date with breaking news around the world.Some shows and channels (like PBS and Discovery) offer educational programs that can increase our knowledge and make us more aware of the world around us. Television is said to expand our minds by teaching us about the different types of cultures and people. Television can help you feel less lonely. Psychologists coined the term ‘social surrogacy’ to explain how television can fill the shoes of absent friends or family.
Watching television and reading books both have its advantages and disadvantages and I believe that one can strike a balance between reading books and watching television if they use the advantages of both books and television wisely.
Television is a device which receives television signals and displays them on a screen. The electric television was first invented by Philo Taylor Farnsworth in 1927. He was a 21 year old when he invented the television and lived in a house which did not have electricity for fourteen years. The mechanical television was created by John Logie Baird who was a Scottish scientist. The mechanical television was also known as “the televisor” which worked a bit like a radio. The mechanical television was invented in 26 January 1926. People at that time were ecstatic and amused by this new technology they had heard about and it became very popular in a very short period of time.
Conclusion
I would like to conclude this project by saying that i believe that watching television is as important as reading books as they both benefit us. Television was created for entertainment and relaxation whereas reading books should be a habit everybody has. Reading books helps us to gain knowledge and helps us improve our grammar and creativity whereas watching television also gives us knowledge but about different aspects of the world and also keep us relaxed. Hence I strongly believe that one can strike a balance between reading books and watching television.
