Week 7 Readings

Happy Saturday!

Back to reading Sterheimer this week. I think the Sternheimer chapter for this week ties in really well with our discussion(s) last week about poverty. She talks about how the media is seen as problematic and is a distraction from reality. This also connected well with the Kuper, Ridgway, and Fremstad articles that covered poverty. I liked that the Ridgway article listed four specific problems in the way that media depicts the poor. The way media portrays poverty and those who are poor definitely seems to diminish the poor’s worth as human beings. I wish there was some media outlet that would allow for honest illustration of poverty, especially in today’s day and age when it is a major issue in our country. I suppose that, for now, we have to settle for these biased depictions.

Later in the Sternheimer chapter, I found it interesting that the amount of time spent watching television increases with age, but we are more focused on children and teens watching too much television. I also was happy that she discussed the positive benefits of video games, such as the complicated rules that can lead to intellectual payoff for the player. I kind of disagreed with this because yes, learning a system of rules might be helpful to learning but I felt like she disregarded the aspect of violence. I understand that there is a rating system, but at what point do video games take it too far? Do you guys seen video games as a major issue or can they really be used as a tool for raising intellectual capability?