Random Thought.

Today my dad suggested a very interesting point. He told me to imagine television media being replaced with books, but that it had the same affect. Instead of being ignored by a person watching television, you would get ignored by a person reading. Instead of channel surfing, a person would books surf, flipping through the pages of multiple books.

The point is, this could be reality. Regardless of how great the meduim is, America is just obsessed with obsessing.

Reading is a great alternative to television. While one could argue that it is just as anti-social as television (as my friend did tonight), there are a lot more pros (which I pointed out, and she agreed with me). For starters, there are more educational books than educational shows. Reading leaves room for the mind and imagination to play. The writing is usually more eloquent. The content is typically better. It lacks commercials.

Unfortunately, its less appealing than television, especially to the majority of this generation. But if we have to obsess over something, I'd rather America be obsessed with reading than television.

6. "Kill Your TV Now, Save Our Human Race"

I found a really great website that feels along the same lines as I do about television...but voices it a little bit more strongly. Below is a link to the website, specifically to a song called "Kill Your Television". Listen to it!!

http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/downloads/themesong/robwilliams.html

Fun facts.

From kidshealth.org, which is backed by Nemours, a non-profit organization devoted to childrens health:

• Two-thirds of infants and toddlers watch a screen an average of 2 hours a day
• Kids under age 6 watch an average of about 2 hours of screen media a day
• Kids and teens 8 to 18 years spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a TV screen and almost 2 additional hours on the computer (outside of schoolwork) and playing video games
• The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that kids under 2 years old not watch any TV and that those older than 2 watch no more than 1 to 2 hours a day of quality programming
• Children who consistently spend more than 4 hours per day watching TV are more likely to be overweight
• Kids who view violent acts are more likely to show aggressive behavior but also fear that the world is scary and that something bad will happen to them
• TV characters often depict risky behaviors, such as smoking and drinking, and also reinforce gender-role and racial stereotypes
• The average American child will witness 200,000 violent acts on television by age 18, kids may become desensitized to violence and more aggressivly
• A recent study by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) found that youth exposure to alcohol ads on TV increased by 30% from 2001 to 2006
• According to the AAP, kids in the United States see 40,000 commercials each year
• Under the age of 8 years, most kids don't understand that commercials are for selling a product
• Children 6 years and under are unable to distinguish program content from commercials, especially if their favorite character is promoting the product

5. Frightening power.

Today I was at work, I'm a nanny.

The television set is seldom on in this family's house. The kids and I have watched maybe 2 movies, but we've never used the television otherwise. They are not a big media family, in fact, the 8 year old girl gets upset when her 5 year old brother wants to play video games or watch "Star Wars", explaining to him that it will rot his brain.

But since President Barak Obama was in Orange County today I decided to try to watch it on the news. However, I missed it because I was outsmarted by this family's tricky television/remote system.

Eventually I got to television on, though the news about Obama was long gone (I was just determined to be smarter than the TV and actually turn it on!). It was on in the background for approximately 20 minutes.

I tried to talk to the 8 year old girl. She was sitting on the couch located directly in front of the television. As I mentioned, she's a smart girl: she understand the evils of media. Yet the television had captured her.

It was during a commercial about something boring like insurance or health care. It wasn't even a funny or engaging commercial! But it caught her attention. And held it. For the following 5 minutes I could not get her to respond to me. She wouldn't even acknowledge my presence. I was standing in front of the television, and she just shifted her head to see around me.

When she snapped out of her daze I questioned her. She didn't know what I was referring to and didn't believe that she had zoned out for a solid 5 minutes.

Television is addicting. It has immeasurable power over our attention span, especially children's attention span.

Sometimes we forget it's fiction.

This postcard is from PostSecret.com, where people send their secrets to share with the public.

This anonymous person is more concerned about the fictional relationship between Pam and Jim on The Office than he or she is about their own love-life.

We become so wrapped up in "our shows"--the shows we claim as our own that we watch on a weekly basis--that they become real to us. The characters feel like our friends, or better: they provide laughter and gossip without providing first-hand, personal drama or ever hurting our feelings.

It's time to remind society that television is fiction. Sitcoms and dramas, even "reality", are written by human beings that think up story lines for a living.

We can afford to miss them for a week during Turn Off week in order to build our own relationships.

4. Turn off week

The Center for Screen-Time Awareness promotes two "Turn-off Weeks" each year, and the next one is coming up! It will take place from April 20th-26th. All of the information can be found by following this link:
http://www.screentime.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=8

Facts from the Screen-Time website:

• Number of people in the average American household: 2.55
• Number of televisions in the average American household: 2.73
• 50% of American homes have at least 3 televisions
• The average American watches 4 hours and 35 minutes of television every day

Our society is consumed by television and it's time to prevent the youngest generation from being sucked in to the tube as well. Childhood is a crucial time for growth. Television can hinder a child from learning about something new, getting exercise or developing social skills. Informing parents and teachers about the impact that television has on children and minimizing the amount of time children spend watching television by promoting turn-off weeks could yield very positive results.

3. Oh, by the way...

...I'm a Television major.

Learning to write for television, design a set, operate a camera, direct a crew, control audio, etc., is what I do in most of my television classes. I learn how to make fake-life look and sound like real-life. I go to class to learn how to create what I seem to hate so much. But really, I don't hate television.

I hate how consumed society has become by it.

I enjoy a good sitcom. I even find myself lounging on the couch channel surfing. But I don't do this every day, or every week for that matter. It's okay to like television. It's okay for kids to like television. But we need to be aware of our intake and we need to make kids aware of their intake as well.

2. I'd take a kiss over television any day,

but some prefer television...

From fmylife.com:
“Today, me and my boyfriend were hooking up while watching TV. Just as I was getting really into it, he told me to move my head. He couldn't see the television. FML”

After years of television viewing, real life becomes a blur and television takes over. A lasting impact is made on the rest of the viewer’s life and results in problematic relationships and day-to-day struggle.

Television becomes so real to the viewer, that real real-life becomes stagnant feeling. Watching other people experience life becomes more gratifying that having your own life.

Fmylife.com is website where people post about situations where the phrase “F**k my life” is applicable. It full of posts that cover topics of media, including video games, movies and television. Ultimately in these posts, these forms of technology are preferred to human social interaction and the person whose life is being F’d recognizes it. In the above example, the television was more important to the boyfriend than a physical relationship with his girlfriend. He is somehow more satisfied from whatever was on the television that by the physical touch of his girlfriend.

Thank goodness televisions can’t get pregnant.

Lies, Cries, and Shattered Family Time.

I work in a restaurant that has a television mounted behind the bar. In front of the bar there is a column that measures 3 feet wide, which hinders the view of the television from several points of view. There is only a handful of seats that provides access to viewing. Countless times in my career as a server, customers have asked to be placed on a special wait list for the tables that provide a good view of the television. Mind you, this even occurs when there are tables available to sit in!

My favorite episode of this situation took place during football season. A mother and son were sitting at a table that was just barely blocked by the column. They were waiting for the third member of their party, the dad. Not realizing that I could see them, the mother whispered in her son’s ear for several seconds. They waved me down and when I approached their table the son began crying. The mother explained that he was upset because he could not see the television and he had been waiting all week to watch the game that was on that night. I told them they could switch tables and when the game started the son did not look at the television even once. However, when the dad arrived he spent the rest of the meal staring at the television, not once glancing away from the screen.

There are many things wrong with this situation. For starters, the mother used her son as an excuse to get in view of a television. She connivingly asked her son to cry, to put on an act of sadness. Then, the act was not even for the good of the whole family. It was just so that the dad could watch the game. The family could not even spend 45 minutes together without the view of a television.

Television is an intruder. It interrupts potential family time and steals precious moments away from parents and children without them even noticing. While one may argue that television is something that brings families together, something which they can gather around, I argue that it drives a wall between them because all interaction and communication is lost. It is impossible to both watch television and build relationships.

“One is always watching television when one is watching television rather than having any other experience” –Marie Winn, Plug In Drug.

1. I'm concerned.

[Pam Brady is the California State PTA President, 2007-2009.]

Dear Pam Brady,

I am concerned for the youth of America. Actually, I am concerned for all of America, but is to late for most of America, and I must begin my mission somewhere.

Television upsets me. The damage it creates intellectually, academically and socially is arguably powerful, yet irreversible. In the past five years I have worked as a hostess, server, nanny and pre-school teacher’s assistant. From these jobs I have gained a unique insight into the lives of families, their children and their televisions—yes, plural.

My blog serves to enlighten the reader on the reality of reality. Many of us need to wake up and realize that television is fiction: it was created and written by our fellow beings. I will use my personal experiences to explain an array disappointing moments I have observed in my many professions, moments that exemplify the damage television has on our society.

But my ultimate goal is to persuade you, Ms. Brady, to implement “Turn Off Weeks”. This would entail a promotion within each PTA-associated school, which suggests families turn off their televisions for a solid week. According the Center for Screen-Time Awareness, “Former US Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher said at the Kick Off of Turnoff Week 2001, ‘We are raising the most overweight generation of youngsters in American history...This week is about saving lives.’” The act of watching television is so much more, or less, if you will, than watching television.

I have done my homework and see that PTA offers resources about Children’s Issues and Community Concerns from Common Sense Media. It is a valiant effort, and my complaints are not meant to discredit it at all. However, some of the information provided worries me. For example, Common Sense Media suggests that parents limit screen time to 2 hours per day. This adds up to 30 days in one year—one entire month. And I bet there are plenty of children that watch more than 2 hours a day. Imagine the other things a child could do in a month rather than passively watching television! Common Sense Media offered several quite valid suggestions, such as controlling the content or not allowing media during homework, meals and bed time. But ultimately there is a lack of understanding about the severity of this issue.

Parents and educators need to understand the impact television has on children. Why is this relevant? Why do I care about the television habits of children? Why should everyone? Because children become adults. And currently, I am surrounded by adults that used to be television-watching children. Most of them are now consumed by the media.

As a child I experienced anxiety when I missed an episode of Full House. As an adult I recognized the absurdity of this. I am tired of hearing my friends say “I’m missing my shows” when we are out having good, clean, interactive fun! I am taking action, and I hope you will join me. Thank you for your time.

Stay Tuned,
Erin