I always felt safe from being brainwashed because I spend a lot more time with my nose stuck in a book that sitting in front of a TV.

“Braiwashed?” I’d scoff at anyone who’d broach the subject. “Hogwash! I’m reading!

OK, so I didn’t say it in those words – after all, I am not a 60 year old man from England. But I do admit that I didn’t think I was in danger of being brainwashed – because after all, isn’t the best defense against brainwashing reading more and more to further expand your horizons?

Maybe not. Apparently, books can control your mind as powerfully as television. As a writer, it gives me some truly terrifying ideas (how can I make all the readers of my blog give me weekly offerings in the form of chocolate?). It does the same to me as a reader.

However, there is one thing that makes books better than television. We usually tend to ‘wind down’ when we watch TV, which means that our defenses are down – and this is when we are more vulnerable to being brainwashed. However, we usually tend to be more ‘with it’ when we are reading a book, since reading activated your brain more than watching TV does.

Therefore it means while it isn’t the medium per say that makes you vulnerable to brainwashing, but rather the way the medium is used, the usual way that we use the medium of television as opposed to the way we use the medium of reading makes the incidence of brainwashing higher with television than with reading.

I should know. I read it in a book ;).