It is undoubtedly true that television is a revolutionary innovation in audio-visual technology. It brings the world to your home: news, movies, clip-videos, sport matches, educational programs, etc. Just sit on your chair and this ‘magic box’ will entertain you.
Moreover, television visualizes imaginations on screen. When we read books or listen to radio, we form mental pictures in our brains. In contrast, images that we watch in television are products of directors in which we do not need to imagine anymore (Thynne 1989: 19-22).
In addition, people remember what they see more than what they hear or read. This is based on a research on human memory by France psychologists (Elias, 1996).
However, compared to television books keep brains work. Reading is an active activity: eyes move catching words and phrases while mind concentrates ‘digging’ ideas and meanings. After that, brains save information in memories. In contrast, television makes us lazy and passive; we just sit in front of it, stare and listen. Unsurprisingly, it is called an ‘idiot box’ in slang expressions (KGRE June 2006: 3).
Furthermore, books give autonomy to readers. It is up to a reader when and where to start and finish reading or how deep and far his imagination visualizes information. Many people disappoint after they watch movies based on novels such as ‘Harry Potter’ or ‘Da Vinci Code’ (Rumah Sinema 2003: pp. 5-6). That is because their imaginations are different from directors’ interpretations of the stories. Tiffany (2006) even said that directors are dictators: they determine what to see.
In addition, even though human memory saves strongly what one sees (or watches), reading books enriches one’s knowledge and contributes to his maturity. Memory is not everything; consciousness is more important. Consciousness is founded on a combination of memory, knowledge, experience, hope, dream and desire.
Nevertheless, books are older than television. They have been coming since centuries and contributing to civilizations. Books in any form: manuscripts, magazines, papers, etc are products of literacy tradition and remain important for human beings as long as people read.
In brief, books are better than television. Television is entertaining and touching but makes you lazy and passive while books keep you concentrating. Books also free yourself interpreting and imagining the information or stories while television shows final products. Finally, books have been contributing longer to human kind than television.
Reference List
Ellias, J. 1996. What Directors of New Musical Needs to Know, KITLV, The Netherlands.
Wongso, Andree. 2003. ‘Setelah menonton Harry Potter’ (After watching Harry Potter), Rumah Sinema, March-June 2003, pp. 5-6.
IALF Bali. 2006. ‘Idioms Inggris’, KangGuru Radio English, June, p. 3.
Laura, T. 2006. ‘That man: Peter Berlin’, Home Media Retailing, vol. 28, p. 18-25. By Ahmad Muhajir
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