In early June of the 2010, author and New York Times writer, Steven Pinker, wrote an article titled “Mind over Mass Media”. The article itself is a personal favorite of mine, and captures my attention at all angles. In essence, Steven Pinker is making the argument that mass media doesn’t have a negative effect on our brain, as so many people believe. Throughout the article he uses examples of comic books in the 50’s, as well as video game exposure in the 90’s. During the time period of the 1950’s, people believed that comic books made your children into deviant individuals, resulting in a delinquent youth population. On the contrary, people also thought during the 1990’s that video game exposure amongst the youth in the United States would result with an increase in violence, and cause them to lash out into random acts of terror. The funny thing about both of these examples during the 1950’s, and 1990’s, is that both periods showed decline in crime, juvenile deliquesces and an increase in general IQ scores.
Pinker goes on to tell readers that a person’s will and ability to control themselves is the ultimate factor that determines whether or not you are going to be side-blinded by the media information. This is nothing but the truth! Whether you’re a teacher, scientist, or CEO of a world-wide company. In the CEO’s case you are never that far away from an excel spreadsheet to do your monthly budget, or to process payroll for your top-ranking employees. Or in the teachers case, a Microsoft PowerPoint to demonstrate a lesson to your class. Or perhaps a scientist who uses a tablet, or laptop with software to track his research or current study. Technology is not a bad thing! Quite frankly, couldn’t find one issue in this article that I disputed with after reading the Steven Pinkers’ article. I also completely agree on everything with Pinker in regards to when he talks about media outlet, internet, and other sources having the ability to “keep us smart” in today’s world. It’s how they use them and interpret them that will be the defining moment. One cannot sit down and blame technological advancements for our lack of interest in traditional forms of education like textbooks, published books, and poetry. That’s nothing less than a poor excuse for being distracted extremely easy. Plus, I’ve never once had my laptop pull a message up on the screen telling me to waste my time on twitter, “or else”.
