Book Review Marie Winns The Plug-In Drug - 705 Words

Book review: The Plug-In Drug by Marie Winn The Plug-In Drug by Marie Winn was written long before the Internet became a ubiquitous part of the life of every young child and teen. However, its message is just as important today as it was when Winn wrote her seminal text. Winns thesis is that television is uniquely detrimental to the intellectual and creative development of children, creating a generation of passive watchers rather than active doers. She links the dependence upon television as a mode of entertainment to everything from declining SAT scores to a decline in the ability of families to connect with one another. Television enables families to avoid talking during difficult times and families sit around the television like a fireside. Encouraging children to watch television is so easy and pleasant when compared to the disagreeable strategies of the distant past (Winn 151). According to Winn, television is not bad because programs are violent or have no redeeming educational value (although this is frequently the case). The danger is that watching television is addictive as a form of passive entertainment, and crowds out other, more challenging ways for children to have fun. Instead of reading, children watch TV. Instead of playing outside, children watch TV (and do harm to their health by eating high-fat, high-calorie snack foods). Instead of connecting meaningfully with family and friends, they stare at a screen. And, of course, schoolwork often