Dumping The Tv?

[Ed Normile]

The moving picture box? Its even better than the ice box or the neighbors cement pond.

I read an old article written by a priest, I believe, it was very thought provoking. The gist of it was would you invite a guest into your home who used risque references in their speech, who spoke of murders and thefts and war in front of the childrfen, who was dressed immodestly or acted promiscuos in your home. Someone who stopped family conversations by garnering the attentions of all present, then added you already have in the form of your television. Of course it was written and presented better than what I have paraphrased here, but you get the idea.

ed

[Brother Adam]

True, which is why all we do now is watch movies or netflix, so we can regulate what is actually coming into the home, and there are no surprises with commercials either. I love movies, like I said, and we do not abuse watching tv - it is not on all the time, but a real part of me feels like life would be better spent and more fulfilling without it. I am just not sure.

[havok579257]

[quote name='Brother Adam' timestamp='1292644500' post='2193283']
True, which is why all we do now is watch movies or netflix, so we can regulate what is actually coming into the home, and there are no surprises with commercials either. I love movies, like I said, and we do not abuse watching tv - it is not on all the time, but a real part of me feels like life would be better spent and more fulfilling without it. I am just not sure.
[/quote]


so just don't watch it then.

[penguin31]

I have the TV now almost exclusively for sports and online streaming (Netflix, Hulu, etc).

[Luigi]

I read about a TV Turn-Off Week. Here's the link to the sponsoring group: http://www.tvturnoff.org/

You could wait for the official Turn-Off Week, or you could just run your own experiment. Anyway, it would be a way to test out the effects before pitching the set.

Personally, I haven't watched TV in a really long time, although there's still one in the house (no cable, no satellite, jus the local antenna channels). When I catch glimpses of it these days, it looks even stranger and stupider than I remember it.

[Brother Adam]

[quote name='Luigi' timestamp='1292651950' post='2193295']
I read about a TV Turn-Off Week. Here's the link to the sponsoring group: http://www.tvturnoff.org/

You could wait for the official Turn-Off Week, or you could just run your own experiment. Anyway, it would be a way to test out the effects before pitching the set.

Personally, I haven't watched TV in a really long time, although there's still one in the house (no cable, no satellite, jus the local antenna channels). When I catch glimpses of it these days, it looks even stranger and stupider than I remember it.
[/quote]

That is a good idea, but I think it needs to be longer than a week. More like two or three months.

[Era Might]

I don't have a TV. My only real TV vice is sports, so I can't justify spending money on cable just to watch sports. But I kind of like listening to sports on the radio. You have to pay attention more. But it's tough when there's a game I really want to see and I can't. Other than that, I have no interest in owning a TV.

Also, the writer in me kind of wishes I had a TV so I could observe more what the world is watching, because so much of understanding the social identity today is about understanding what's happening on TV.

Edited December 18, 2010 by Era Might

[fides quarens intellectum]

No channels; check movies out from the library and limit watching to movie nights.

[Lilllabettt]

What I am getting here is that you don't want to even watch movies on your tv. You know. The movies you choose to buy, and insert into bluray thingy or whatever, and then watch.

I don't get it. There is nothing evil or wrong about sitting around with your family and watching a wholesome, well made movie together. Film is an art form, and it is beneficial for you and your kids to learn about and appreciate good art. I know multiple religious congregations, male and female, who watch films every week. It is not a waste of time. It is a form of fellowship. But even if you think its a waste of time - you say you'd be willing to do it at church or at a friend's house. Which I don't get. That reminds me of these religious who would say "we're so poor, we don't have a tv." But then whenever they wanted to watch tv, they went over to the Missionaries of Charity, to see the Pope's visit, or whatever. They got to claim to be "poorer" than the Missionaries of Charity, but still have all the benefits of tv watching. It makes no sense.

Personally, I think getting rid of tv-watching period is somewhat over the top. If you can't find good stuff on tv, I think you aren't looking hard enough.There's the nightly news. Growing up my favorite show was Meet the Press (its not the same without Tim Russert.) 99% of the stuff on PBS is good - there is no swearing on Antiques Roadshow. I have fond memories of playing Jeopardy with my family. HGTV. TLC has thoughtful programming that is often enough not objectionable. MTV even has the "16 and pregnant" series which is positive family viewing for all kinds of reasons. (The point is not to sit, stare at the tv for half an hour and then silently disperse. The point is to watch, engage, discuss as a family -- digest what you have seen in other words.) Of course it is different with young young children. Until they reach a certain age, they can't appreciate television, and so they really should be doing something else. As far as commercials go, if you have tivo you can fast forward through them. there is also the handy "mute" button.

I think this convo demonstrates to me, just as the "orthodox"college thread did, that the catholic world is divided into two groups: those who want to live in the Catholic bubble and those who don't. When it comes to something as important as how you raise your family, well that choice has got to be your prerogative. And who is anyone to judge. St. Therese's parents raised their children in a bubble, and it got the job done.

[Brother Adam]

I do not understand where you came to the conclusion that anyone said tv is evil, or that someone said you cannot have a positive experience or watch positive programming on tv? It is a question of the quality of life without a tv or limited tv, or as I mentioned, using a tv only in a common setting, such as religious do. We watch movies as a youth group. There is nothing wrong or evil about having a tv, no one has ever said otherwise. It is a personal choice for your family. I also do not understand where this Catholic bubble thing comes from. Who believes that you either live in a Catholic bubble or do not? I am sorry, but I find these claims confusing.

I was hoping to have a discussion with other families who chose to ditch the tv altogether. We have two families here in our parish who do not have a tv and have young children. Another one recently told me they are getting rid of theirs. One of the families is a huge sports family, but do not seem any worse for wear without it, and still are involved in sports. None of these families seem awkward or seem to be missing anything in life. They tell me their quality of life and family relationships are better since they got rid of it. It is something I wanted to explore.

[Archaeology cat]

We have a small TV, but no TV service. We have been watching more DVDs lately, but that isn't what happens everyday. Right now we're snowed in with kids who still have coughs, though. I do try to limit it, and need to get better at that.

[Lilllabettt]

ok
le sigh

I think someone said that watching tv was like inviting a friend over who would act violently and swear at your mother. I think if Alex Trebek came over he would be a perfectly polite guest. I have also read the tv being compared to the tabernacle of the devil. not on this thread but elsewhere.

If you think you watch too many movies, you should just not buy so many of them. You don't use the tv for sports anyway, right, since all you do is watch movies.

I know a couple of families with no tv. It is part of their "little house on the prairie" program of life.
imo, kids should not be sheltered from things they are inevitably going to experience in the world. It's better for them to confront them, learn to be critical of them, in the atmosphere of the home where Mom and Dad are there to guide them in the effort. In other words, they should learn how to watch tv "the catholic way."

[Era Might]

[quote name='Lilllabettt' timestamp='1292690315' post='2193332']Film is an art form, and it is beneficial for you and your kids to learn about and appreciate good art.[/quote]
The problem with television/film is not just the "content." The problem is the "art form" itself, the medium. Our perception of perception changes in a world flooded by images. If you're interested, there's a lot of criticism of television from philosophers of technology. Among the problems with television is that it destroyes ascesis of the eyes. When we live in a world flooded by images, we begin to no longer see anything, because everything becomes lost in the flood of images. In ancient Greece people conceived of the act of seeing as a physical act; they believed that the eye physically reached out somehow and touched the thing being seen, and brought back this image to the eye. Compare that to the modern conception of the eye as a camera. Our perception of "seeing" has lost its relation to actual flesh and blood, and we conceive of ourselves as machines.

For me, renouncing TV is not primarily about avoiding morally objectionable programming. I'm trying not to become a machine. That's very hard to do in a world flooded with images. Can we completely avoid the flood that's carrying us away? No. At this very instance I am participating in the flood as I stare at a computer screen that has no face, no soul, no flesh and blood. We have to make choices about how much we are willing to participate in what we loathe.

Edited December 18, 2010 by Era Might

[Lilllabettt]

[quote name='Era Might' timestamp='1292702458' post='2193358']
We have to make choices about how much we are willing to participate in what we loathe.
[/quote]


If you loathe something, don't do it.

I do not loathe Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, Schindler's List, It's A Wonderful Life, The Bells of St. Mary's, or the Passion of the Christ etc.

[Era Might]

[quote name='Lilllabettt' timestamp='1292704293' post='2193360']
If you loathe something, don't do it.
[/quote]
Well, that's certainly one route to take. And it takes quite a courageous person to take it. If you take that route every time, however, you might find yourself unable to act in the world, because a lot of things are out of your control. All you have control over is the decisions you make, and how much you choose to cooperate with the things you loathe.

[quote name='Lilllabettt' timestamp='1292704293' post='2193360']I do not loathe Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, Schindler's List, It's A Wonderful Life, The Bells of St. Mary's, or the Passion of the Christ etc.
[/quote]
I don't loathe them either. Well, I haven't seen all of them, and I'm not much a fan of really old movies. The fact that the medium of television/film is philosophically problematic doesn't mean it doesn't have positive aspects. Just as I can loathe television and still enjoy watching it sometimes, so too I can enjoy something and still loathe it because I see behind the simple pleasure to the larger problem.

Confronting our complicity in what we loathe is part of living in a complicated world.

Edited December 18, 2010 by Era Might