Impact of Television on Us

Gossip Girls, 90210, The Bad Girls Club, Desperate Housewives...What are you and your kids watching?

I just watched an episode of The Bad Girls Club and wanted to throw up. Hair pulling, pushing, shoving, kicking. It looked like a bunch of barbarians.

The sad thing is this is a very popular show with teens. These "bad girls" pride themselves on being this way. In the episode I watched all the girls ganged up on one girl because she danced with a guy while the rest of them sat on the sidelines and sulked. They actually beat her up so badly she had to go to the hospital.

In spite of the fact that a lot of the people say they watch the show for the entertainment value, I wonder if that is all that is happening?

What all of these shows have in common is crazy, messed up relationships. I would expect adults watching these shows to be able to differentiate between the craziness and real life, but for a lot of teens I'm pretty sure they aren't there yet.

I don't believe in sheltering kids from reality, but I do wonder about shows like this and their impact on the way kids decide to deal with problems at school and at home. It seems like every time I turn around I am reading about teens killing their parents, bully other teens and the like. While I would like to believe this is the exception to the rule, with access to so many shows like the ones listed you have to wonder.

Any thoughts on this????? How do you handle television viewing with your kids? How did your parents handle it with you? (If you can remember, tee hee)

Time Together

Okay - so you might think that we did nothing, but watch television when we were home, but that is not true. We actually watched very little television, which is why I think all of us were so shocked at how much additional time we had on our hands when we turned off the television.

So what exactly did we do with all this extra time?????

We spent a lot more time doing things together as a family - like talking about current events, taking the dogs on a walk, working outside in the yard or reading the same book and then discussing it. I even noticed that I actually enjoyed the quiet instead of the background chatter while I was cooking dinner. Yes, I do cook most nights. Surprise, surprise!

Studies indicate that today's young people spend more time watching television (15,000 hours) than they do in school (11,000 hours). During an average year, American youth are exposed to:

-More than 14,000 sexual references
-Between 1,000 and 2,000 alcoholic beverage commercials
-More than 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence
-Approximately 20,000 commercials

I think that most of us don't even realize the things that tend to rob us of real quality time with our spouse and kids. This television thing was a real eye opener for me. I am curious to know other things you have identified that rob us of family time? Any thoughts??

Turning Off Your Television.....

Last January we accepted a challenge from a family friend to turn off our television. I think all of us had our doubts about how this was going to go, but ultimately were very surprised. Initially I missed having the television on in the background while getting ready for work or cooking dinner. After a few weeks I was honestly amazed at how peaceful our home was.
I realized I was hearing birds outside my window in the morning as I was getting ready for work instead of news of rape, murder, war, the election and other tragic events that were repeated at least five times. Instead of starting out the day feeling bogged down about all that was bad in the world, I felt positive about life. I was shocked at the difference in how I felt.

We have had our television off for a year and I am pleased to report not only have we survived, we have actually enjoyed it.

People tell me all the time how crazy their schedules are and how disconnected they feel from family members. I wonder what would happen if they took a time out from television or even limited the amount they watched? My daughter was shocked at how much more time she had on her hands.

At the end of six months we had a family meeting about turning the television on again. Our daughter’s response was, “I think we should keep it off until I graduate from high school. I have too many other things I need to do.” Sweet!

So you may be wondering if we are going to turn the television back on in 2009. If our daughter and I have our way the answer is No! However, some people in our household -no names - would like to watch sports.......

Are you up for the challenge?