Thursday, March 4, 2010

We think people on TV are our friends

I recently had one of the stars of Rough Science walk into my office and ask a question. But what's interesting about that is not my excitement at meeting a TV star who I respect and admire. It's how I felt like I knew her.

I saw her, and immediately knew I recognized her. And my brain, to make sense of this insane impulse, decided she was someone from another museum that I've worked with in the past. But I'd never met her before, just watched her on TV. My brain's reaction to working with someone for weeks and talking to them for hours is the same as passively watching them on TV for hours, years after they did something cool.

I felt sad to have my weakness to TV made so obvious to me. I was happier when I was ignorant of how much I love TV and how personal a connection I feel to the stars of the shows I watch regularly. But I have to confess that it's true. My brain reacts the same to David Tennant as it does to people I actually know.

We need to know this. We need to remember the power of media, and teach kids how powerful it is. It controls us too much already, and I fear it has only grown in power in recent years. TV "news" is poisoning society. Hopefully the internet will wound TV enough that this power can be disrupted.

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