I disagree, mostly....

[mike_c]

Sure, if all you use a computer for is watching TV shows and movies, they're identical. But many of us don't watch anything on our computers. Instead, we read text on them and we interact with others via computer. Both are active pursuits, not passive watching and entertainment. Even gaming is active.

My biggest complaint about television, after the inanity of most programming, is that very passiveness and how it lends itself to behavior control and modification. As primates, most of our sensory development is visual, and our visual pathways dominate information flow into and out of our brains. I think television is downright dangerous in the sense that it feeds directly into the primary open sensory pathway into our minds. Social norms are set by television dramas and situation comedies now. Human behavior is directly modified by television-- we just don't call it that. Instead, we call it advertising, but the same medium that stokes enthusiasm for one brand of soap over another is equally good at creating enthusiasm for war, or for the campaigns of politicians singularly unsuited for public office.