I’m not sure how this happened but, TV Turnoff Week, coming up April 21-27 this year has turned into 3 weeks of “get ready for TV turn-off week”; 1 week of TV Turnoff Week and most likely a few weeks of wrap-up. Which is really my way of saying that there are already, here in early April, quite a few articles out on the web giving advice on what to do during TV Turn-off week…instead of watching TV.
So I’m not going to do that.
If you want some ideas for activities, check out Unplug Your Kids, and Verda Vivo. Though collecting old copies of just about any parenting magazine will do just as well.
If you want reasons to cut back on TV, you can find them here, though most of them you’ve already heard and…if you’re really a TV addict, have worried about incessantly (or maybe not).
If you want books about the trials and tribulations of parents who did read reviews of two of my favorites, Living Outside The Box and The Big Turn-off: Confessions of a TV Addicted Mom Trying to Raise a TV Free Kid.
Now, if you want my personal opinion on the whole issue, well…just keep on reading!
Here it is. Cutting back on TV is tough. It can’t be done in a week. It’s harder if someone in your family is a sports fanatic. It’s harder if you have children who have been watching TV for a number of years. It’s harder if your children hang out with kids who watch a lot of TV. It’s harder if you hang out with people who watch a lot of TV. It’s harder if your water cooler talk at the office is all about TV.
It’s a lifestyle change that will impact your family your friends and your buying habits. This is true. Really.
So, I don’t think trying to cut back on TV with 5 TVs in the house and 250 channels is going to work. It’s too easy to slip back into bad habits. We don’t even have TV reception anymore, so don’t watch TV. But, we watch DVDs and find ourselves overdoing the DVDs from time to time!
So here’s my recommendation. Take it slow but take it all the way – step by step.
#1. Get rid of all your old TVs except one. All those old bulky analog TVs aren’t going to be worth much in a few years anyway, when everything goes digital. Use that as an excuse. (If you already have 5 flat screen TVs you’ll have to find your own excuse.)
#2. Cut back on your cable. Get basic service only. Hey, we’re in a recession. Food prices are skyrocketing. Gas in $3.00 a gallon. We all need to save money. What better excuse do you need?
#3. Next report card, whine about your kid’s grades and declare that there will be no TV on school nights. Stick to it despite the complaining, which will be fierce. (Actually it will be fierce every step of the way.)
#5 Sign your kids up for lots of weekend activities. Rent a bunch of DVDs for weekend viewing.
#4. Disconnect your cable. (See # 2 for rationale.)
You did it!
Here’s some statistics:
- The total average time a household had a TV set tuned during the 2006-2007 television year was 8 hours and 14 minutes per day. source: Neilsen Media
- The average American watched 4 hours and 34 minutes of television each day during the 2006-2007 television year. source: Neilsen Media
I bet after you’ve completed these 4 steps you’re not watching nearly as much as the average family. That’s good.
Actually, that’s good enough!
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6 comments:
I especially like #3! I hope we can make it without the Disney DVDs for one weekend!
Great post! I am so glad you point out that cutting back is enough. It really IS enough. That old adage: "all things in moderation" is quite true. It doesn't have to be all or nothing.
Hmm . . . is it a bad sign that my first thought upon learning about TV Turn-Off Week was not "that's a great idea!" but "I think that's when Lost returns!"? They should have scheduled this even during the writers' strike. (Just joking. Sort of.)
Great article! I agree that moderation is the key to successfully cutting back on tube time.
We are already following those 4 but our goal is to go completely TVless except the occasional DVD or TV show on the computer.
These are great tips. I agree about moderation as well.
We decided to eliminate cable about a year ago. We did at the time to both save money, see if we could ACTUALLY do it, and because we've always been a 1 tv home and quickly realized that the one tv typically had children's programming on it anyway, so why subscribe to cable service for children's programming? We didn't like the idea of our kids watching that much tv. We do still let them watch some DVD's, and there's a used toy store near us that sells old VHS tapes for $1 so we've picked up some of those too. I do like the fact that there's a definite beginning and end with a video or DVD, I can physically remove the item if need be, and limit them in quantity of items vs. time. With little ones they don't necessarily understand 20 minutes, but they do understand 1 DVD.
Honestly though, I guess for that reason I dont' think we'll really participate in TV-Turnoff week. Or not officially anyway. It doesn't seem to be as novel a thing in our household as it does in many others. We don't really watch it anyway.
(Yes, we do watch Lost on our computers, but I do know that the episodes will still be there when the week is through. I can't TOTALLY miss it ;)
Jen
http://furoreandfrenzy.com
I like your TV reduction plan. As long as you monitor what and when your child watches TV, you'll be ahead of the game. I have a TV in my bedroom but haven't turned it on in days. There are too many other things to do even though I'm retired. Children should be that busy and engaged. Media Awareness Network has some excellent information.
Daryl
Verda Vivo
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