Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for April 21, 2008
Transcript:
Joan: Holly, we don't turn the TV on when Luci's in the room. Holly: Why not? Joan: Because screens are a MAGNET for kids. Computer screens, TV screens, cell phone screens... They get FIXATED. Joan: It's like some kind of hypnotic drug. It's CREEPY. Holly: OR...handy!! Holly: Voila! Instant babysitter. Joan: I can almost see the brain cells leaving her body.
Brilliant! Psychologists and advertisers, who often are one and the same, craft broadcasts to function as modems. The flashes and noises and narratives are designed to override our volition, to push our buttons. We’re being played–not like instruments of the Divine, but as porno-pinball machines.