The Great TV Experiment

If you are like me and my family, time is a big stressor in your life. We never seem to have enough TIME to get everything done. We wish to spend more TIME together. Well, it is TIME to do something about it, but first a little background.

This information was blatantly ripped off from http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html, but the emphasis is mine (also I deleted some stuff that is not relevant to this discussion).

Television Statistics

According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube. Compiled by TV-Free America; 1322 18th Street, NW ; Washington, DC 20036

(202) 887-4036

I. FAMILY LIFE

Number of hours per day that TV is on in an average U.S. home: 6 hours, 47 minutes

II CHILDREN

Number of MINUTES per WEEK that parents spend in meaningful

conversation with their children: 3.5

Number of minutes per WEEK that the average child watches television: 1,680

Percentage of 4-6 year-olds who, when asked to choose between watching TV

and spending time with their fathers, preferred television: 54

Hours per year the average American youth spends in school: 900 hours

Hours per year the average American youth watches television: 1500

III VIOLENCE

Number of murders seen on TV by the time an average child finishes elementary school: 8,000

Number of violent acts seen on TV by age 18: 200,000

Percentage of Americans who believe TV violence helps precipitate real life mayhem: 79

V. GENERAL

Percentage of local TV news broadcast time devoted to advertising: 30

Percentage devoted to stories about crime, disaster and war: 53.8

Percentage devoted to public service announcements: 0.7

Percentage of Americans who can name The Three Stooges: 59

Percentage who can name at least three justices of the U.S. Supreme Court: 17

Compiled by TV-Free America

1322 18th Street, NW

Washington, DC 20036

(202) 887-4036

Influence of Television

For decades, research and studies have demonstrated that heavy television-viewing may lead to serious health consequences. Now the American medical community, which has long-voiced its concerns about the nation's epidemic of violence, TV addiction and the passive, sedentary nature of TV-watching, is taking a more activist stance, demonstrated by its endorsement of National TV-Turnoff Week.

The average child will watch 8,000 murders on TV before finishing elementary school. By age eighteen, the average American has seen 200,000 acts of violence on TV, including 40,000 murders. At a meeting in Nashville, TN last July, Dr. John Nelson of the American Medical Association (an endorser of National TV-Turnoff Week) said that if 2,888 out of 3,000 studies show that TV violence is a casual factor in real-life mayhem, "it's a public health problem." The American Psychiatric Association addressed this problem in its endorsement of National TV-Turnoff Week, stating, "We have had a long-standing concern with the impact of television on behavior, especially among children."

Millions of Americans are so hooked on television that they fit the criteria for substance abuse as defined in the official psychiatric manual, according to Rutgers University psychologist and TV-Free America board member Robert Kubey. Heavy TV viewers exhibit five dependency symptoms--two more than necessary to arrive at a clinical diagnosis of substance abuse. These include: 1) using TV as a sedative; 2) indiscriminate viewing; 3) feeling loss of control while viewing; 4) feeling angry with oneself for watching too much; 5) inability to stop watching; and 6) feeling miserable when kept from watching.

Violence and addiction are not the only TV-related health problems. A National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey released in October 1995 found 4.7 million children between the ages of 6-17 (11% of this age group) to be severely overweight, more than twice the rate during the 1960's. The main culprits: inactivity (these same children average more than 22 hours of television-viewing a week) and a high-calorie diet. A 1991 study showed that there were an average of 200 junk food ads in four hours of children's Saturday morning cartoons.

According to William H. Deitz, pediatrician and prominent obesity expert at Tufts University School of Medicine, "The easiest way to reduce inactivity is to turn off the TV set. Almost anything else uses more energy than watching TV."

Children are not the only Americans suffering from weight problems; one-third of American adults are overweight. According to an American Journal of Public Health study, an adult who watches three hours of TV a day is far more likely to be obese than an adult who watches less than one hour.

Sometimes the problem is not too much weight; it's too little. Seventy-five percent of American women believe they are too fat, an image problem that often leads to bulimia or anorexia. Sound strange? Not when one takes into account that female models and actresses are twenty-three percent thinner than the average woman and thinner than ninety-five percent of the female population.

Sorry to take so much TIME, but let’s unpack this a bit. The average American spends 28 hours/week watching television. As the study shows, this activity has little value beyond entertainment. For the most part television, desensitizes us to violence, encourages us towards materialism and gluttony, destroys us physically and decays our moral senses. Television is a drug that slowly destroys us.

My wife and I have prayed about this issue a lot. It has come to a head recently as our 2 year old daughter has become more aware of TV, even to the point of recognizing shows by hearing the sound from the other room. Please don’t misunderstand, we don’t watch that much television, but we do have certain times of the day when we settle in front of the TV. Nevertheless, television prohibits us from doing fun activities like going on walks, playing games, going to the park or just generally enjoying being together. It also inhibits our personal growth by restricting our time for prayer and study.

Well, the Lord spoke to both of us with a solution. We are taking advantage of the digital television conversion to break our addiction. This will eliminate the possibility of bringing TV into the house, except on our own terms. We will still be able to use the TV for age/content-appropriate video games (but not to the extent that they are a replacement). We will not replace TV-time with extra time on the computer (except to blog about the experience).

Through this experience we hope to grow as a family and as individuals. We will be doing activities together, playing games together and talking to each other more. Also, we will spend more time on personal growth by spending more time in God’s Word and through general reading. Finally, we hope to become healthier by being more active.

This will also be a time to purge the messages of the world from our mind and focus more on God. By removing the junk the clutters our mind and distracts us, we can hear God’s voice more clearly. The things that God wants for us will be highlighted and our desires will conform to his.

We aren’t sure where this journey is headed or how long we will be fasting from television. God has told us to start with a 40 day fast and go from there. That means the TV may come back on as soon as July 22 or never again or somewhere in between. That question will be answered in time.

So follow this journey with us through this blog. We will post the good, the bad and the funny. The kids will be able to post thoughts in their own words as well, with no filters.

“So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Matthew 7:17-19