> Passively letting an uncritical experience wash over the mind

I don't watch much television but I think that consuming and processing narrative is not entirely passive. Your brain is still doing work to connect dots in stories, you're building internal networks of events and characters.

I think there's a lot more interaction on the receiving end there than you're giving credit.

Truthfully what television removes (though not entirely) from story processing versus reading is a huge chunk of imaginative work and some memory requirements.

You may have a point but it’s very challenging to prove: Even the most engaging program can be viewed passively simply by disengaging focus.

> consuming and processing narrative is not entirely passive.

while I agree with this, modern television requires far less "interaction on the receiving end" than you give it credit for. It lacks novelty.

> modern television [...] lacks novelty.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by “modern”? We’re in a golden age of television, according to some. I can think of at least a dozen shows released in the past few years that have deep and complex storylines.

I think it works both ways, we have some much choice now that you can easily seek out both ends of the spectrum. There is no shortage of mindless TV for people to watch if that is what they are after.

I mean modern broadcast television, the one with ads