How I kicked the TV to the curb… (sort of)
Over the last several years I have had a bit of a love hate relation with the TV. If I wrote a pros and cons list I honestly can’t come up with many pros, my list would look something like this;
- entertainment (Not always a positive)
- noise in background
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.”
- true
- noble
- right
- pure
- lovely
- admirable
- excellent
- praiseworthy
If I use the above list as my measure it doesn’t leave one with much to watch. I wrestled with this because I like to be entertained by a story. Dave and I have never paid for TV always seemed like a waste of money, but with rabbit ears we were always able to pull in some channels. When we moved here we only got one channel, but in the evenings I would often watch a show or two I had my favorites. Yet this verse would come to mind and I would think I really shouldn’t be watching this, but I had been sucked in I wanted to know how it would end.
When Joel came home from the hospital one of the agreements was that we would sleep with Joel so he would spend his evenings with me. Once again I thought about how appropriate the programs were or were not that I was watching. If I could not watch it with Joel was it appropriate for me just because I was a grown up?
This summer I finally had it with the TV and felt if I was going to take God at His word then I shouldn’t be filling my mind with anything that couldn’t line up with Phil 4:8.
For me my cons list looks like this;
- huge time waster
- negative influence on my kids
- instills a desire to be entertained in my kids
- softens us to sin, one stat I read stated, “An average American child will see 200,000 violent acts and 16,000 murders on TV by age 18.”
- encourages laziness, greed and inactivity.
Sure one can argue that there is educational value to TV, and that it keeps us current on world news. Yet a newspaper, radio or Internet can keep you posted on current events. The library is full of educational experiences.
We have not kicked our TV right to the curb we are no longer using it to watch broadcast TV, but we do watch DVD’s and we have always been rather selective in what we watch. However, we have had some duds make it through and the kids are usually on the ball about saying if it doesn’t meet the standard.
I may sound like I am taking things too far and that’s okay, at the end of the day we all have to look ourselves in the mirror. For me this has become an area I do not wish to compromise.
I am surprised that I ever had time to sit and watch TV. My evenings are just as busy as ever. I have to say I thought I would miss it but I am oh so glad to report I don’t. (Oh and I do read more books.)
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12 Comments
marlece
Way to go! We have tv but watch it SO limited. Sometimes, like last weekend we had been doing nothing but ON THE GO and I finally said, let's just sit and relax for a minute and on goes the tv. I actually am the one that suggested it! Probably not the best parenting for sure. So, good for you and it makes me think about what I will and won't encourage even when wanting to relax for a minute.
ontheoldpath
I hear you I often used it as my way to relax, now I am putting on some nice music and grabbing a book instead. It was more of a habit before.
Sydney @ The Maretzk
That is EXACTLY how we feel about TV! It's good to know that other people think that way. 🙂
ontheoldpath
It is nice to know you are not alone, there may only be a few of us but at least we have each other.:D
Cookie's Mom
Cheryl, I am right there with you on this one. I have a couple of shows that I like to watch if I can find the time (mostly they pile up on the PVR and then get deleted when I run out of space), and my son is allowed an hour of educational TV on occasion. Otherwise it is off. We love our books around here. We can connect through reading together in a way that we can't do when the TV is on.
ontheoldpath
I am so glad we did and I only wish I had given it up for good sooner! I know what you mean about reading together we love it.
Thomasina
The eye is the light of the body. And so many of these shows are full of darkeness! We have 2 TV´s in our house and they are LOCKED. One is about to die and we are going to let it. I have to gaurd my heart so I know that things my kids are watching at times are not protecting theirs. We watch a lot of educational stuff. Other than that the TV is off.
Elisa
Such a great post. I need to pick books over TV 🙂
Sonita Lewis
Oh wow, for the last month I've been thinking about cutting off the netflix! Hubby and I talked about it and we finally took the plunge and put the Netflix account on hold yesterday for 1 month. We want to see if we miss it too much.
Honestly my main concern is school because my 7 year old does watch a LOT of documentaries on Netflix. So we may end up turning it back on, but I don't know….
Mommy Bags
This is great and you are allot stronger than I. I really have the TV on more for background noise but I do like my garbage reality TV my little one loves Nick Jr. Thank you for stopping by my blog I am now following you back 🙂
Sarah @ The Fence
Our family really agrees with you. We're usually way too busy to watch much TV but, there's really not much on that's appropriate for kids (or grown ups!) My husband was frustrated last week because he was watching a football game… which seems like it would be totally harmless right? But the COMMERCIALS that came on, while he was watching it with our kids, were just awful! Not just scary monster movie previews… but commercials for TV shows that come on different nights with all kinds of sexual situations in the ads. I hate that!
We DVR things that the kids are allowed to watch, which ain't much (Phineas & Ferb, Wipeout, Mythbusters) but it's not like that matters because we really don't have a ton of time to sit around and watch. We've started watching sporting event 30-45 minutes AFTER they start just so that we can skip the commercials and not see people making out in elevators, people jumping into bed with strangers, scary monsters from video games and movies, and anything that DOESN'T make the Phil. 4:8 cut!
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