N.C. Wyeth illustration, Treasure Island

J.P. STRALEY writes:

I read Alan’s remembrance of George and his comment on the small-screen fixation of younger people. I want to tell you why all these screens — TV, movies, and computer — are bad for young people.

First, I am writer of sorts. I make a story with words and give enough hints that the reader can erect what amounts to an image of the character’s personality and an image of the world he inhabits. Note the word “hint.” As a writer you can never include voluminous detail, the reader will fade way from you and put down the book. When this happens you’ve failed.

As a writer you give what amounts to clues, and the reader’s mind grasps these clues and puts together the image. The point here is that it is interactive. The reader is always interpreting and imagining as he reads the story. This trains the mind. You must pick up clues and interpret them, fast! Believe me, this is good for you. In children’s books you notice that for first graders there are plenty of images and few words. Move on to the third grade and there are a few images and more words. A person should be a mature reader by sixth grade, and books of that level have very few images and carry the story entirely by words. Books that tell stories in settings that may not be known to the reader have a few vivid images — think of Treasure Island, etc.

Now, consider movies. You don’t have to imagine much with movies. You are given very detailed images, indeed your mind never argues with those images because they are real. Music is provided to lend an emotional background. The whole experience is passive, and you are being strongly manipulated by what you are experiencing. It is by far not interactive. It is the great passive simplification of life.

TV is almost the same, but not quite so powerful as a movie on the big screen. But the issues are the same.

The tiny screen? Sometimes its a game, sometimes it is a cartoon figure. Cartoon figures are just clues to a real figure, but you can’t get inside to imagine them, especially if they are beyond imagination as seen in the various Captain America type stuff. But it is still easy, no imagination required, no intellectual engagement required. It’s for dullards, and if you aren’t a dullard then it will make you one.

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