Knowledge is something all humans strive for. We can’t help it, it’s in our nature. It can be found anywhere. It’s interesting how television used to be primarily for entertainment but now you can find a plethora of shows and programs on various topics. There are some shows on National Geographic for example that will do documentaries on the Holocaust or World War. Sometimes it will be programs that are more farfetched like whether mermaids are real or if Big Foot could be in your backyard. The question is why would someone want to watch these shows? Because not only are they entertaining, they cause your mind to work and turn its wheels. We enjoy to contemplate, wonder, and know.
Some channels like Discovery Channel have more of a fun and different spin. They have shows such as Shark Week, Dirty Jobs, and Amish Mafia. They are still shows where you learn but Shark Week for example has thrill and Dirty Jobs has humor or curiosity. Yes we may enjoy watching shows full of laughs or nonsense but we can’t help but fulfill a quench of wonder. Whether we want to know how the Egyptians passed the time or why we made certain decisions during a war, we can’t help but want to figure it out. Television isn’t the only entertainment device that leans towards education sometimes. Games such as Brain Fitness, Reader Rabbit, and Sesame Street give entertainment to the player while testing their brain and developing a deeper understanding in a topic. It’s gone from spaceship games and ghost games with fruit to teasers that strain your brain. Not only has there been a increase in education entertainment for one self, but also family games. Take Scene It for example, you think you are just testing yourself and others on memory of a movie or show but you are also testing knowledge.
Any kind of knowledge is exercise for your brain. You have to remember a scene or be able to depict something in the game that would remind you of a movie or show. Another good example is Monopoly because there is a lot of strategy needed in the game. It is very popular on family game nights and everyone likes to pretend the Monopoly money is real but you have to think before and after every roll of the dice. Its not a game where you can win for getting a high number on your dice or for doing a right number of spins, you have to make choices and every choice can lead to your victory or downfall.
So why is there so much education being absorbed in areas we don’t even realize? Because knowledge and the quest for it surrounds us more than we notice sometimes. Its not just in schools or at work. It is in your home and in the back of your head. Your thirst for learning is constantly growing and you quench it by more than reading a book. Knowledge is a huge role in our everyday life. Sociology is a study that analyzes these kinds of questions and thoughts on people and things we don’t always realize right away.