Somewhere during the last couple of decades, the dog ceased being man’s best friend. Man has found a better companion, one which makes no messes, and needs no meals. Also, one which keeps him company under any circumstances, but whose personality is controlled by a switch. This new creature has electricity in its veins, a constantly changing face, and many times rabbit ears. Commonly called the TV, this strange marvel comes boxed only in a wooden frame. But as face watches face, incredible things happen...

I’ll be traditional and tell you all the good TV has done and is capable of doing:

(1) It keeps kids and adults off the street.

(2) It promotes a spirit of unity in the household. A common interest can for a small while bind the family together, while so many forces today strive to tear apart.

(3) It can provide a change in the daily routine of life.

(4) Great amounts of information are broadcast every day on TV: news p r o g r a m s , n a t u r e

programs, agricultural helps, etc.

I will not now defend or deny these points, nor will I say that there are not more possible items that couldbe added. What I wish to say is that, in spite of all the possible good TV gives to society, the negative contributions that follow and that time has forced me to omit, far outweigh the positive points, and should cause one to hesitate the next time he is about to assume his position before the tube.

Let’s begin with an obvious but not-too-often-considerd fact: A person watching TV isn’t doing something else. That is to say, the person involved constantly in TV watching has that much less time for creative activ ity, social involvement, constructive familybuilding. For, contrary to point 2 above, TV watching does not always tend to unify:

“enraged at not being allowed to watch TV, a 15-year-old Newark youth fatally beat and stabbed his great grandfather yesterday afternoon.”

A bizarre exception. Perhaps. But vaguely it reminds me of times I have scolded my 2-year-old for

interrupting a particularly interesting show. And of times when other disputes have arisen over which program was to be viewed. The fact that a family unit is all in one room does not mean it is “together.” And supposing that the family has agreed to refrain from argument for the evening, has agreed to watch one particular program, is enjoying it immensely, can it still be said that the family is any better for it?

[I must inject here in 2010 that this archaic family under consideration at least still was attempting to do the right thing, and be together. Today there is a TV in every room, and the above situation seldom occurs. We’ve come a long way, but in the wrong direction]

Public investment might be considered. The fact that nearly every American has at least one TV and a huge percentage have 2 or more means that dollars and cents are being invested, big time. But the real money issue in regards to TV is the silent killer known as commercials. The TV industry is sustained by advertising, and attracts many billions of dollars of it annually. The basis for this great TV/advertising romance is that TV is the one single medium with the greatest impact on today’s world.

Narrowing this ad thing to the world of children:

“American corporations last year spent nearly $400 million just on children’s TV Advertising…By the age of 18, children have seen an awesome total of 350,000 commercials. What have they learned? ...you solve your problems by buying and using things. Physical force is important and useful. Don’t feel guilty about self-indulgence while others may be deprived...images of commercials saying father is a jerk, mother is stupid and a gossip, all kids should make out, and elderly people sit around arthritic and constipated.”

Parents aren’t off the hook here. It’s a fact that children want what they see, but of those surveyed concerning their buying habits, 65% admitted that they yielded to their kids’ demand for a TV product.

And of all TV products, TV toys have to be the worst. Not only are they lacking in quality, they costmore, due to the very fact that they are being advertised on TV.

So it’s not just the fact that “people watch TV”, but WHAT they watch that causes difficulties. And although advertising may harm the wallet and several values, they are the fresh air of the day in comparison to those segments in between commercials that we call programs:

If a child watches TV from 4-9 pm, from the ages of 5-14, he will see 13,000 human beings destroyed. So, he sees a lot of violence, and it is paraded as one of life’s inevitables. He sees that manual labor is not too interesting or worthwhile. He sees that confidence and toughness are needed to succeed in life. He sees sexual perversion of nearly every sort. And the rest is coming. He sees that laughter is not only the best medicine, but in many cases the only medicine. He sees that tears show weakness. He sees grown men and women living lives of foolishness, and seeming so very happy.

Yes, he reads of their misery behind the scenes, and their suicides, and their divorces, but never learns WHY, for example, Judy Garland never could “fly over the rainbow.” It never seems to click that the world of TV is an unreal world designed for dollars, designed for the glory of man, and not to meet human need.

The “what” of TV is bad enough. Multiplied by the “how much”, the problem takes on disaster proportions! The average home watches 6 hours of TV per day. The average male viewer between the ages of 2 and 65 will watch 3,000 entire days of TV: nine full years of his life! The figure in low income houses is even higher.

The TV addict. Product of the world’s greatest people. And perhaps contributing to its own devastation.

The TV addict begins his career on Saturday mornings, early in life, with those darling cartoons. With luck he’ll end it in a rest home that has a set in every room. TV begins as fun and diversion. But it soon becomes master.

Sixty per cent of the families of the US have changed their eating and sleeping patterns because of TV [you may increase all statistics, since around 30 years of “progress” have passed since this writing].

Why? What is the allurement?

Some turn to the tube to find support and expression for unresolved conflicts. It seems that problems are being worked out on TV. The viewer “feels ” better after watching someone else solve his problems. Of course he forgets that when he awakens next a.m., his problem will still be there, despite the “feeling.”

Others are drawn for somewhat of an opposite reason: They know TV is unreal, and here they can escape from an otherwise boring life. In other words, the mentality of the alcoholic.

Whether attracted by real or unreal, most love violence. (Whether in drama or sporting events) And many try to defend this love by citing works of violence down through the centuries: Greek history, “Little Red Riding Hood” (!), even the Bible! These classics they compare to their James Bond thriller.

Differences are obvious enough to the wise, but just for the record: A. The Bible (for example) contains violence, but is a beautiful story of a loving God. James Bond contains a story (somewhere), but is violence. And B. The reason for violence being added to , say, “Little Red Riding Hood,” was to offer a perfectly horrible example, to arrive at a moral, and ultimately to quench violence in real life. Today’s sagas present violent persons as the hero, not the villain, and praise their actions. Seldom are morals considered.

Not only do persons love seeing unreal people slaughtered, they seem to lose contact with real problems:

“By sheer repetition (viewers) have become desensitized to violence and they have come to see aggression as a normal part of existence.”

Surely there are those who watch TV only for information given. I wonder aloud, can this information be gained from radio or newspaper? [And today, from computer!]

A second suggestion, as I conclude these comments, is that only those in the home mature enough to know when and how to “stop” be allowed to choose and view the family TV programs.

Thirdly, for those convicted by the evidence who have decided to ban the TV, I suggest that there be

found an immediate replacement that will be more constructive. There will be great voids in some homes when the TV is turned off for the last time. Mourning, as for a lost pet -or even relative- will set in. But when the void is filled with a meaningful activity, it is possible for these poor deprived ones to come to a state where they actually wonder how they ever had time for such a nuisance! There are testimonies available that sound much like the ones of those freed from alcohol and drugs.

Christian, spiritual values are simply not taught , with any consistency or quality, by the American TV industry. The message of the Lord is essentially not there. As your TV time increases, your spiritual interests will decrease. Perhaps Christians in the industry can help “salt” things down by adding Christian values, but for that same Christian to feed off the world’s medium is unthinkable.

Let’s not kid ourselves. All TV is educational TV. The power of a word and an image is unfathomable.

Our lives are shaped by the intake of our minds. I encourage readers to choose cautiously those things they wish to enter that sacred ground.