What is your view of TV generally? Should parents attempt to regulate what their children watch?
I have some serious concerns about television's impact on our society, and particularly on our younger generation. According to Dr. Gerald Looney, University of Arizona, by the time the average preschool child reaches fourteen years of age he will have witnessed eighteen thousand murders on TV and countless hours of related violence, nonsense, and unadulterated drivel. As U.S. News reports, "Between the ages of 6 and 18, American children on average watch 15,000 hours of television. That's 2,000 hours more than time spent in school."4
Congress and the Federal Communications Commission have authorized ratings to give parents some clues about what is coming, but these are of limited help in discerning values and worldview. And other aspects of television demand its regulation and control. For one thing, it is an enemy of communication within the family. How can we talk to each other when a million-dollar production in living color is beckoning our attention? I am also concerned about the current fashion whereby each program director is compelled to push the envelope farther and farther into profanity, bad taste, indecency, and counter-Judeo-Christian values. Consider the subject matter of abortion, divorce, extramarital relationships, rape, prostitution, and the acceptability of an active, open homosexual lifestyle. If this is "social relevance," I am sick unto death of the messages I have been fed.
We can trace this trend back decades, and the last generation has reaped the consequences. For example, in 1973, actress Sally Field was interviewed about a new TV show in which she was featured. She offered a candid look at her character development: "They had me playing a twenty-three-year-old virgin, and I couldn't perpetuate that kind of fraud. It simply isn't today. . . ." Miss Field's objections were honored by the producer, and the thrust of the show was made saucier:
For instance, in the opening segment you'll see John and me on our first date. He drops me off at my apartment and before he has a chance to ask, I tell him I know what he's thinking and he can't come upstairs -- but I explain that the reason he can't is because my roommate is home. In other words, I want it obvious to viewers that this is a character with real emotions. She isn't turning her date off because she's one of those outmoded "no-no" types. She's as tempted as he is. She digs him -- but they're going to have to wait a while.5
Now fast-forward less than a quarter century. The socially relevant plot line had progressed until a sitcom featured the female star's sexual relationship with her roommate -- another woman. Television has an awesome power to fulfill its own prophecies. As producers try to be "on the edge" of modern life, they often lead society over the edge.
Neil Postman, media critic and author of the book Amusing Ourselves to Death, discounts the educational benefit even of educational programs. Real-life teachers can't compete. "Sesame Street makes children like school, only if school is like Sesame Street." Postman and other critics add that television "gives away the secrets of adulthood," and gives children a rather superficial view of adult life. "What I see happening is a blurring of childhood and adulthood," Postman has written of the effect of television.6
I'm also concerned about cartoons that indulge in considerable violence, feature adult activities, and have an occult or New Age flavor. The action often revolves around superstition, sorcery, and magic. These cartoons seem to be teaching subtle spiritual (rather, false-spiritual) messages.
Author Marie Winn Anderson believes that TV, of any kind, destroys family relationships. "Parents use television in daily child rearing as a problem solver," she says. "When young children start to fight, they'll say, 'Gee, Sesame Street is on.' But they haven't solved the problem. Before television, parents had to be firmer."7
She's right. In some ways, TV gives parents an easy out. They don't have to deal with their children as much. It's certainly tempting to let the tube baby-sit the kids, but after a while the TV becomes the parent, and you're the stranger. And, as we've seen, in terms of values, TV makes a lousy parent.
As Anderson says, "Unsupervised TV is like letting your children play out on the street at any hour of the day or night with whomever they come across."8
Is that really possible, to go without TV? Won't that stunt my kids' creativity?
In a fascinating study mentioned in the same TV Guide article, children in three Canadian towns were observed. One town had no TV reception, one got only one channel, and another got four channels. In the non-TV town, teens got more involved in community activities and sports, and children tested far higher in creativity. Two years after that town got TV reception, the children's creativity scores had dropped to the level of the other two.9
So, it is possible to do without TV. However, I don't think it is necessary to go without TV entirely. Television still has great potential to put on good programs, and every so often a series comes along that tries to present and support good family values. I would not, therefore, recommend smashing the TV set in despair. We must learn to control it, instead of becoming its slave. It's certainly tempting to let the tube baby-sit the kids, but after a while the TV becomes the parent, and you're the stranger.
When our children were growing up, Shirley and I allowed one hour of cartoons on Saturday morning and a half-hour program each afternoon, selected from an approved list. We kept the policy flexible in the case of special programs of interest. In this way, we could take advantage of the benefits of television without letting it dominate our lives.
And, as noted above, many good programs are available on children's videos. Obviously, many of the programs offered for sale or rental have the same problems as TV shows. But there are many wholesome programs -- and there is a substantial amount of Christian video programming. We have tried to add to it at Focus on the Family with our series called "McGee and Me," geared for eight- to twelve-year-olds, which tries to express Christian values in an entertaining, dramatic form. And there are many teaching, music, and Bible story tapes from which to choose.
One word of caution, however. Even good TV or video becomes bad when there's too much of it. If your child spends time in front of the tube when he should be doing homework or chores, talking with you, or playing outside, that's a problem. You shouldn't let any media -- even "McGee and Me" -- do your parenting for you.
The New Hide or Seek
By Dr. James Dobson