The TV! The TV!

Plug it in! The TV! The TV!

I’m going to stop severely cut down on watching television. Not for Lent, have missed that boat and also want to finish watching Homeland first! And I’m not anti-television - the children watch it, we have Netflix, iPlayer and tons of DVDs. In the last few months I’ve enjoyed House of Cards, The Good Wife, Jonathan Creek, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Modern Family, Criminal Minds, Buffy, Angel, Jericho, Jack Reacher, Master and Commander, Nashville, Made in Chelsea, The Killing, Grey’s Anatomy..

That’s a lot, right? I’ve got into the habit of watching it while nursing Baby Bear (16 months now but still going strong!), and doing housework - folding laundry, tidying rooms, sorting and putting away, and for a sit down with a cup of tea.. I can get through A LOT of hours that way. Admittedly I very rarely watch it without also doing something useful, but it’s definitely been increasing its pull on me, and that’s what I don’t like. I feel like there are better ways I could be spending that time - with my children for one, praying or reading the Bible for another. And although I enjoy.. LOVE TV, I don’t believe that it adds value to my day, at the moment.

The TV question in general is a tricky one, how to find a balance. I’ve been swayed by the arguments in Pam Sorooshian’s article "Economics of Restricting TV Watching of Children” (if you restrict a thing, you increase its value and desirability, so people become more attached to it, not less.). I also agree with the points made by a poster (DaughterofEve) on the Ambleside Online forum last year (see here for full thread):

I dont hold with the fear tactics, so telling me that screen is going to make my child dumb - or conversely if they dont have screen theyre going to be left behind - is not the way to convince me to your point of view. I seek to work on principles and observing the past. History tells me that all new things were regarded with an element of fear by the establishment - until they proved themselves. (And even then they were not necessarily completely accepted). 

This 'screen' age is just thinking in a new way. I need to set aside my biases and look at it for what it is, how it works, what it can do. I need to observe it, look at it through the light of Scripture, consider my unique life and family.. 

Screen can be addictive. So can sugar, alcohol, work, leisure.. and a host of other good things. The things are not inherently wrong, its how they are used. I need to be proactive and put in the work and figure out how to use them well. 

Screen can isolate. Screen can bring the isolated into community.
Screen can reduce productivity. Screen can increase productivity.
Screen can damage real life. Screen can enhance real life. 

Instead of villifying screen, I need to put in the effort and look for behaviours to target or encourage. This is much harder to do. MUCH harder. IT is easier to control a tangible object, than to put the effort in and know my kids.

But, there is a flip side. Almost everyone I know in Real Life sets quite strict limits on their children’s viewing, and I respect them and the way their children are being raised. I appreciate the arguments against restrictions, but I also think that viewing can become a habit - the more you do something, the more you want to do it. I think that often there is nothing wrong with what the children watch, but I think there are things that are better, that have more value. Reading, playing together, playing outside, creating.. although much of my son’t creations and play acting originates from what he watches.

The way our day goes at the moment, the children have Free Time after lunch, or when we get home late afternoon after an Activity, and then sometimes before bed. At weekends there are no restrictions while at home, but we go out a lot too.

I need to think on this, pray on it. Maybe limiting my viewing with also have an effect on the children - at least I’ll be more available to them.