The Dumbing Down of the American Television Audience.

Dancing with the stars, Americas next top model, Cake Boss, American Idol.

     I'm sure some of you reacted with either joy or disgust for some or all of the above "reality" shows. These shows and every other one like it that are unscripted are slowly but surely eroding any intelligence the average TV viewer has, if they had any to begin with. Unlike scripted dramas, which in the last few years require the viewer to be able to remember plot lines over the course of a 20-24 episode season, reality shows simply ask the viewer to watch.

Let's be honest, anyone can watch, it doesnt require any brain activity to watch your dog lick its own rectum, no more brain activity than it takes to watch the kardashians (honestly id rather watch the dog lick its own rectum)

The brain is like any other muscle, use it or lose it, or never develop it. The brain can atrophy just like an underused muscle.

Reality television for all its "reality" is simply spectacle, and humans rarely can stop watching spectacle. Its the same as rubberneckers on the highway that gawk at an accident where theres a car on the side of the road on fire and so are the occupants. spectacle by itself does not make the brain do anything, and not doing anything kills brain activity.

A former co-worker of mine once admitted that they know that reality shows are "mindless" but she claimed that watching something mindless was actually "relaxing".

Comments like that should scare the living daylights out of all of us.

in conclusion, while the danger of getting dumbed down by television continues, there are indications that the reality show craze is peaking with a huge downslide to follow and hopefully the trend will be forgotten and scripted television will be the  dominant form of primetime entertainment once again. Americans will be smarter for it, and hopefully will never let it happen again.