Control Television Before It Controls You

Television has staggering potential. When the American TV
industry was persuading developing nations to adopt TV,it proffered visions of a TV Utopia.Whole countries would be transformed into classrooms, with even the remotest areas tuned in to educational programs on such vital subjects as farming techniques, soil conservation,and family planning. 

Children could learn physics and chemistry and benefit from a broadening cultural exchange.

Of course, such visions largely evaporated in the ensuing reality of commercial television--but not entirely. Even Newton Minow, the Federal Communications Commission chairman who dubbed television "a vast wasteland," conceded in the same 1961 speech that TV had some great achievements and delightful entertainments to its
credit.

Certainly that still holds true today. TV newscasts keep us informed of world events.TV nature programs give us glimpses of things we might never see otherwise: the precise grace of a hummingbird filmed in slow motion, appearing to swim through the air: or the strange dance of a bed of flowers in time-lapse photography, bursting up out of the soil in a fanfare of color. Then there are cultural events, such as ballet, symphonies, and operas. And there are plays, movies, and other programs- some profound and insightful, others simply good entertainment.

There are educational programs for children. 

The National Institute of Mental Health reports that just as children can learn aggression from violent TV, they can also learn to be altruistic friendly, and self-controlled from good examples on television. Programs on how to react in emergencies have even saved the lives of children. Thus, Vance Packard writes in Our Endangered Children:"The disgusted or harassed parents who put their TV sets in the attic are probably overreacting, unless they have an out-of-control situation with their children."

Taking Control

Clearly whether we are speaking of adults or of children, the key is just that - -  control. Do we control TV or does TV control us? Mr. Packard suggests, for some the only way to control TV is to get rid of the thing. But many others have found ways to control the TV while still making use of its assets. Following are some suggestions.

For a week or two keep a careful record of your family's TV viewing. Add up the hours at the end of the period and ask yourself if TV is worth the time it is taking.
Watch TV programs not Just TV!

Check TV listings to see if there is anything worth watching.

Reserve and protect certain times for family conversation and togetherness.

Some experts caution against letting children or young teens have a TV set in their own room. Parents might find harder to monitor what a child watches.

A videocassette recorder (VCR), if you can readily afford one, may help. By renting good videotapes or by taping quality programs and watchng them when convenient, you can use the VCR to control what is on your TV and when your TV is on. A word of caution, though. Out of control, the VCR may only increase time spent in front of the tube or open the way for immoral videotapes.

Who ls Your Teacher?

A human being is a virtual learning machine. Our senses are always soaking up information, sending our brain a flood of over 100,000,000 bits of data every second. To some extent we can influence the content of that flood by deciding what we will feed our senses as the story of TV vividly illustrates, the human mind and spirit may be polluted by what we watch as easily as the body may be polluted by what we eat or drink.

How will we learn about the world around us. What sources of information will we choose who or what will be our teacher if we spend too
much time with television. As our teacher, we may begin to imitate it-to espouse the values and standards it represents.

Even when TV is not bringing stupid or immoral characters into our homes, it is still missing something crucial. Very little of what appears on TV even begins to address a need common to every human being. So now the ball is in your court. 

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