Rosenzweig, "Can TV Improve " Handout Http://Www.time./Time/Magazine/Article/0,9171,996688-4,00.html Essay

Rosenzweig, "Can TV improve ?" (Handout) http://www.time./time/magazine/article/0,9171,996688-4,00.html 2. Cloud, "Never Too Buff" (handout) http://prospect.org/article/-tv-improve- OR • Write essay contrast attitudes a controversial subject002E

The two articles provided for comparison, "Never Too Buff" by John Cloud and "Can TV Improve Us?" By Jane Rosenzweig deal with similar aspects related to the influence media has on human behavior and especially on teenagers and young adults, the most vulnerable groups in the society from this point-of-view.

The main idea of the two articles revolves around the belief that such vulnerable groups have a tendency to be influenced by the media in the way in which they perceive themselves, they perceive others, and the environment around them. John Cloud's article provides a view on the way in which society has changed in recent decades to further include extreme beliefs about one's body to such extends that they often use extreme measures to get the perfectly shaped body as promoted by fashion or fitness magazines. Further, the author argues, that such changes were done in time and with the thorough pressure of the society: if in the fifties, the male body had a certain type of beauty pattern, in the twenty first century, that beauty pattern is dramatically changed and more and more people are aware of it and inevitably they become self-conscious. This in turn may result to damaging effects on the young generation that can become addicted to steroids, gym classes, fitness and body building that eventually are taken to limits the human body cannot endure.

By comparison, Rosenzweig's article, although tackles a similar issue, leaves at the level of the reader to draw its own conclusions. On the one hand, she provides the image of a regular evening news TV broadcast, and on the other, it also points out some benefic effects of television, such as assisting in improving social behavior in various situations. Even so, the argument pointing out…