What if scientists got the same attention as celebrities?
I usually listen to the local radio stations when driving to work and I can’t avoid catching at least 5 minutes of celeb gossip on a daily basis. It got me thinking – how awesome would it be if scientists received as much exposure as celebrities? Because seriously – why are paying attention to the Kardashian diets, internet challenges that were fun before it was cool and divorces of couples famous for no reason other than appearing in some reality show?
Wouldn’t it be great if you could switch the radio on and hear about how a 100-year-old physics problem has been solved or which scientists came up with Top 10 revolutionary theories? They might be just theories but it’s still a better food for thought than the content copied from the morning tabloid. Don’t you agree?
I think more dialogue about science in the mainstream media is a great way to entertain and inspire younger generations to become interested in development and innovation. And I'm not talking about studies researching if food tastes better if you Instagram it first.
Please share your comments and thoughts.
I think most scientists wouldn't want to be profiled and followed around the way celebrities do.. It's sort of a catch-22, the kind of people who would be the best role models for the world are usually not interested in getting millions of followers on social media.
You're right, they definitely do not want to be profiled and followed as celebrities. However, what I meant was not the approach but rather the amount of attention they receive. There are many who are passionate abouth their work and would love to share their findings with others even if they have to siplify it a bit. It's actually challenging to explain complicated things in a way that majority understands.
My history professor in high school said something to the effect that; he couldn't trust a politician who would want to draw as much attention to himself as running for president brings. I do agree that there are probably a lot of amazing candidates out there who are not interested due to the media spotlight.
I'm lucky to live in a place where public radio quite often has science related content like interviews with researchers and stories on current scientific studies. It's public radio though - funded by subscribers and not ads and I think that makes a difference.
if smart people were as loved as celebrities the world would be in a constant state of utopia
Well, the awards show would be extremely boring to the average person, because they wouldn't understand half of what was said.
never going to happen
for one thing the news media is predatory.
their motto is "if it bleeds it leads"
Science doesn't bleed all that much
For another thing..the news medai is STUPID.
they can't understand anyting the least bit interesting...
if it's not bleeding...they not heeding.
The last thing.
half of the human race has an IQ of less than 100
need I say more?
Definitely not going to happen, agree with you and all your points. This was just a brainfart created in a moment of frustration. Part of a coping mechanism to look for ways to change things for better when we don't like them. But then again I could have just switched the channel, much easier to do...
Science is a lot of frustration and errors.
Since most people don't really understand a scientific topic unless they are really doing their research on something very similar it would lead to a lot of misrepresentation in the public. I mean... there's professionals doing there research on a very specific enzyme for example that won't be able to really talk about it with other scientists unless they give them a very detailed overview.
Furthermore Scientists might feel a lot of pressure if a tabloid suddenly publishes "yournamehere is gonna be able to cure cancer soon". What if it doesn't work? What are you telling the people who are probably going to be calling you about a cure some news magazine promised that does not even exist yet?
Congratulations @penticton! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPYes, maybe. But mainstream media has a language that does not fit with serious matters. It´s not deep enough. If you want to know about sciences, there´s books, and there´s the internet where you chose what you read and study.
TV and radio language is simply not fit for more serious stuff. That´s my two cents, anyway.
Wow, this was a super interesting piece. I couldn't agree more. Scientists are probably our most under-appreciated field!