Feb. 28, 2008 - Television, Computers, Video Games -- Where is your line??
Television, Computers, Video Games -- Where is your line??
A few months ago, a started a conversation on an e-mail loop I am on regarding television, and the differences between videos and audiobooks. I encouraged everyone to read The Plug In Drug by Marie Winn. Most libraries have a copy. When my first daughter was born, my husband and I observed the other parents in our church limiting their children to one video per day. We thought this was a great idea. We did not necessarily limit ourselves though. Several years later, our television broke, and our entire family began to wean off of television. It was during this time that I read through The Plug In Drug the first time. It has been three years now since our television broke, and we have found that computers and video games have risen up to take the televisions place. We limit our children to 60 minutes total "screen time"; which usually includes 30 minutes of game play and 30 minutes of watching a dvd. However, the game play is limited to every other day during the week and alternates between players and watchers. Another rule we have is "No game time on Sundays ever." We watch DVD's on our computer screen or on a small portable dvd player we own. We seem to go through periods where they are definitely watching their one dvd per day; and then other periods where we don't watch any dvd's for an entire week because we are too busy having what I call "real" fun. Philippians 4:8 says
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." I believe this verse is a good standard by which to judge the videos my family will watch. If they are not educational or spiritually edifying, they do not need to be watched. So that's where we draw the line.
A few days ago, I received this noted from Hailey; and I thought she did such a great job of explaining what happens when you turn off the television. So I asked permission to share it with all of you!
Amy and Friends,
I just wanted to let you know how things went with my desire to
cut down the amount of TV my child watches on a daily basis. She
had a habit of watching up to two hours in the morning and one while
I was making dinner at night and I was worried that it was not good
for her. Amy suggested reading the Plug In Drug and I have to say
the book was fascinating. I learned so much about what sorts of
problems tv can cause in the brain and learning processes, even
though I thought I already knew it all, LOL!
So, essentially, the book scared me straight! I told Grace TV was
bad for her brain and we turned it off. DH and I are only watching
at night after she goes to bed. For the first few days she needed a
lot of attention and she did not like it, but she understood me when
I said it was bad for her. I read a lot more books to her in those
first few days while she made the adjustment. Now she is much
better at entertaining herself. My house has toys strewn all over
it in odd places, but she is not watching TV. Now that it's a bit
lighter outside in the evening I have been having her play outside
in the backyard while I make dinner. I can peek out at her and make
sure she's ok, it's fenced in, and I don't have her underfoot as I
am cooking.
I think we have been pretty successful with our experiment. She
went from reading about 6-7 books a day to 11 plus, which must be
good for her. Also, she seems better at self initiated play, and
really does seem calmer throughout the day without the distraction
of TV.
There is also an interesting article on NPR regarding children and
imaginitive play. It sort of bounces off what the author of Plug In
Drug had to say and discusses some interesting differences in the
attention span abilities of children today versus children from the
1940's. Here's the link:
That's a great post and so true! We haven't been able to afford cable for a while, but we would watch videos/DVDs on occasion. What we found was happening was that even when the tv was off, the kids would stare at it anytime they were in the living room. We ended up taking the tv out of the living room and just keeping one in the master bedroom. Now, they watch maybe one thing a week, and life is much more peaceful.
Jennifer
We go back and forth between watching one video per day, and not watching any for weeks. Right now, the kids are watching one video per day while I am getting ready in the morning on a little DVD player in my room. However, I find that even that much is a disruption to their play and attitude. Peace is definitely what happens when you turn off the t.v./videos. Now if only I could convince my family to stop the computer gaming!
thanks for stopping by my blog. I have a upright freezer so that gives me tons of space. It was a great invenstment.
I love this post. We didn't have TV till just this year and it was great. We still only watch it 1 or 2 times a week. I grew up without TV so I never really wnat to watch it. My hubby did and really struggles. So we just keep it off. I have discovered that TV makes for grumpy kids.
When my first child was about 16 months old I was watching TV and he was playing on the floor. One of the characters said "Oh my G__!" and the audience laughed. At that age he liked to do things that made us laugh so out of his adorable innocent mouth I heard something I never wanted to hear again. My 16-month-old took the Lord's name in vain (not understanding what he was saying of course)! When hubby got home I told him what had happened and we immediately took the TV out of the livingroom and canceled the cable. We haven't gotten it back since and it is one of the best decisions we ever made (we still do carefully chosen videos sometimes).
Ironically, while waiting in line at the grocery store the other day I saw a headline on the cover of a magazine that was talking about a high profile child of two actors and how strange her life was because she wasn't allowed to watch TV. Interesting...
Our family has lived without cable for about 15 years. We do watch dvds and videos. It's been hard for myself and my husband who are tv generation. It really is like a drug. For the past few years we have gone on a 6 week t.v. fast each spring. It helps get us out of the habit and do other stuff.
The bottom line is; We try not to insist on parent-led learning or gravitate toward child-led learning. We try instead to focus on God-led learning and ask for His input and perspective on every aspect of our home school. That way, when others fuss about what Dan and I are doing and make me second guess our decisions -- I can go back to our decision process and find God's fingerprints, reminding me that this is His way.
