{"id":305,"date":"2011-08-18T13:18:09","date_gmt":"2011-08-18T13:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/preacherskid\/?p=305"},"modified":"2011-08-18T13:18:09","modified_gmt":"2011-08-18T13:18:09","slug":"reality-tv-makes-you-dumb-ya-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/08\/reality-tv-makes-you-dumb-ya-think.html","title":{"rendered":"Reality TV makes you dumb? Ya think?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Reality TV: A vast intellectual black hole?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I spotted this\u00a0\u00a0Psychology Today<\/a><\/em>\u00a0headline, (“Does Reality TV Make Us Stupid?”<\/em>), I almost spat my coffee all across the keyboard of my computer.<\/p>\n

My initial reaction? That would be a bemused, muttered “Ya think?”<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, now, having thought it through, I would have to say it depends on which of the plethora of faux “real life” shows<\/a><\/em> you subject your brain cells to enduring. I suspect more than a few shows will some day be proven to have a negative and\u00a0measurable impact on I.Q.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Psychology Today<\/em> seems particularly ready to put the producers and “stars” of the New Jersey-based people-behaving-stupidly shows — i.e., “Housewives of New Jersey<\/a>,” “Jersey Shore,<\/a>” “Jerseylicious”<\/a><\/em> — on the counseling couch.\u00a0(If they did, wanna bet just how exhiliarated psychotherapists would be to say, “Your hour is UP!”<\/em>)<\/p>\n

And really, how long could anyone watch the Kardashian sisters or the latest TV freak show episode of “Hoarders<\/a><\/em>” (will they ever find that dead cat under all those clothes, knicknacks, food fragments and boxes of assort detritus?) and not have some gray matter turn to pulp?<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Cliff Robertson in "Charly"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr. Bob’s prescription: Read the novel “Flowers for Algernon,<\/a><\/em>” or see the movie “Charly,<\/a><\/em>” as a precautionary tale before you ever, ever watch these shows again!<\/p>\n

Tempted to click in to the latest morally-bankrupt, socially inept, self-centered train wrecks of those poor folks in Jersey? First, remember poor Charly Gordon, and how his rise from a bakery gofer with an I.Q. of 68 to uber-genius ended with descent to a cognitive level even lower than where he started — and institutionalization.<\/p>\n

Charly was probably watching one of those Jersey shows. Or, maybe the Kardashians<\/a><\/em> flitting about in their unreal world of riches.<\/p>\n

Of course, Charlie should’ve been watching “Deadliest Catch,<\/a><\/em>” or “Ice Road Truckers.<\/a><\/em>” Even “Swamp People<\/a><\/em>” would at least have a neutral effect on intellect, I suppose.<\/p>\n

I submit the, ahem<\/em>, final word on all this is in the Bible (well, with a rather serious stretch of hermeneutics<\/em>):<\/p>\n

“The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.”<\/em>\u00a0(Proverbs 3:35 KJV).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I spotted this\u00a0\u00a0Psychology Today\u00a0headline, (“Does Reality TV Make Us Stupid?”), I almost spat my coffee all across the keyboard of my computer. My initial reaction? That would be a bemused, muttered “Ya think?” Well, now, having thought it through, I would have to say it depends on which of the plethora of faux “real…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148,14,248,11,239,1],"tags":[26,251,254,253,249,250,252],"class_list":["post-305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-ethics","category-psychotherapy","category-reality-tv","category-self-esteem","category-uncategorized","tag-deadliest-catch","tag-housewives-of-new-jersey","tag-i-q","tag-ice-road-truckers","tag-jersey-shore","tag-jerseylicious","tag-swamp-people"],"yoast_head":"\nReality TV makes you dumb? 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