{"id":17756,"date":"2015-12-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=2582"},"modified":"2015-12-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-12-08T00:00:00","slug":"fruitful-waste-of-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/12\/fruitful-waste-of-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Fruitful Waste of Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\">\n<\/head><body><p>Melinda Selmys (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Slave-Two-Masters-Melinda-Selmys\/dp\/0991909801\/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8%20tag=leithartcom-20\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Slave of Two Masters<\/a>) knows that TV-watching is \u201cthe classic example of \u2018wasting time,\u2019\u201d but she doesn\u2019t think there\u2019s any reason why TV time is wasted time:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA person could watch the same show over and over again and still choose to claim something new out of the experience on each occasion: They could analyze the dialogue in order to make a study of speech patterns. They could learn to imitate the different characters to amuse their friends at parties. They could observe how the emotional content of the show is altered by different commercials playing during the breaks. They could dissect the program to learn about the structure of narrative. They could take in the vision expressed through lighting and color choices and practice seeing the real world around them as though it had been shot in that way. The most banal material, introduced into the human mind, becomes a bit of media that can be molded by creativity and intelligence into a thousand different psychological, spiritual, and intellectual products. Or it can be allowed to wash over the mind as an indifferent haze, producing nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Melinda Selmys (Slave of Two Masters) knows that TV-watching is \u201cthe classic example of \u2018wasting time,\u2019\u201d but she doesn\u2019t think there\u2019s any reason why TV time is wasted time: \u201cA person could watch the same show over and over again and still choose to claim something new out of the experience on each occasion: They [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fruitful Waste 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