I have not read this book, but its cover speaks to me...It's a constant struggle for me - the TV. I have many friends who don't watch TV at all. In our house we have weaned ourselves from a full cable package, to basic cable, to nothing except an occasional movie.
When my children were very young I used to wonder how women could use their televisions as babysitters. My kids couldn't sit still for 5 minutes, even in front of the TV.
But now my kids are a little older, and I get it.
Many parents use their televisions as babysitters because it works. It does the job (quite well!) of keeping children quiet and still - there are no toy squabbles, no constant chatter from 4 year olds...during the time it takes to watch a full length children's movie, a mother might even forget that she has children. She might even find the time to do something amazing - like empty her dishwasher, read a book, send an eMail, or mop the floor.
But at what cost?
TV is one of the most overlooked social experiments of our day. Do we really know all of the repercussions? We know that advertisements are created by psychologists and marketing experts to get us (and our children) to buy things. Television makes us and our children more materialistic.
But could there be even more subtle repercussions? Repercussions we cannot see? Has anyone actually studied what happens in a brain, especially a young brain, when it sits and watches flashing images for multiple hours a day?
The answer is yes, it has been studied, and all of the studies show that television actually causes brain damage. *Warning - article contains some profanity.
Even with this knowledge, I find it incredibly difficult not to put on a movie when my kids are acting restless and I want to do something fun...like shine the kitchen sink...
So I'm curious - How do you feel about television? Do you watch it? Do you allow your kids to watch it? Have your views on TV changed over time? Are you like me - a TV hater who doesn't practice what you preach? Let's discuss!
2 comments:
Thank you for your comments on my blog!!! It sounds like you and I have a lot of common interests. :-)
I can relate a lot to this particular post about TV for sure. We just got rid of our TV a week ago. Like you said, we went back and forth on it for months and interestingly, once we just made the decision, we haven't missed it.
We've found that both I and the children have more and better quality time with my husband when he gets home. The children are much more imaginative and play so much better without the temptation to ask me to watch a show.
I restricted their TV quite a bit, and I almost never watched TV, but even still it's such a peace that has descended on our home in the last week!
Though...I must admit that the ONE time that I miss it is when I must shower when they're awake. When I could just put a show on for them, I knew everyone would stay put. haha
You know me . . . I'm a no-TV idealist who fails at it repeatedly. I think TV is damaging for children's brains, morals, and attention spans. I think it makes them act like snotty brats. That said, I think it is unnatural and extremely difficult for one mother to take care of all these children from dawn till night by herself, day after day. It breaks a mother. We were meant to have grandmothers, aunties, and single, teenage sisters around to help us. So, what do we do to get help? I can't function without somebody/something sometimes babysitting my children. Right now, that is sometimes the TV. (Only DVDs and Netflix, so no commercials ever.)
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