Post-broadcast Democracy: How Media … – Google Book Search

The by-product learning theory by Downs (1957, 223) suggested that entertainment sources could yield political information as a surplus benefit. This was in the days of early TV, when folks would hunker down to watch TV at dinner time, and the networks could “trick” them into watching news.

The theory was kind of upset by cable TV, because there were more choices. however, with IM and social networks like MySpace and Facebook, and tools like twitter, by-product learning is back. This can explain “why the environment can increase knowledge in the absence of a motivation to learn.”

As a teacher, this is interesting to me, but also explains how we learn as a society today, too, to some extent.