The view out our window (and, Why we don’t have a TV)
This is the view out of our dining room window:
Here it is from another chair’s viewpoint:
And another view:
Its really nothing spectacular. No soaring eagles and vast mountains, open prairies or lively garden. Just some overgrown pine trees and a lilac, some shrubbery, our neighbourhood. Dirty fingerprints.
Yet our family often spends our eating time gazing out this window as we talk with each other. We watch the bees and other insects buzz around. We learn about the life cycle of plants. We watch kids playing outside. We see the results of hard work. We learn about life in real-time. I think too often TV gives us the stop-motion/time-lapse/quick-view (you get the idea) of life. Problems are solved in under half an hour (or less, depending on how many commercials are run). Families can be raised in an hour. Relationships can undergo several drastic changes in a short amount of time. Which leaves little time to address the realities of life…all the things that take up time and aren’t exciting enough for TV, but which are in fact, real life. We (not just our kids) learn to seek out quick fixes (like that turning on the TV will make us happy). Shows are also geared to entice and mesmerize our brains (and our kids’ brains) into a state of…zombiness? Media is flashed at us with just the right amount of light and sound and change that it is difficult to actually look away, let alone have a conversation. Our window is interesting, but not so engaging that we can’t value the people around us and hold conversation with them.
Also in the “Why we don’t have a TV” category:
“Mike Teavee…”
(from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
“The most important thing we’ve learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set–
Or better still, just don’t install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we’ve been,
We’ve watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone’s place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they’re hypnotised by it,
Until they’re absolutely drunk
With all the shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don’t climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink–
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSES IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK–HE ONLY SEES!
‘All right!’ you’ll cry. ‘All right!’ you’ll say,
‘But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!’
We’ll answer this by asking you,
‘What used the darling ones to do?
‘How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?’
Have you forgotten? Don’t you know?
We’ll say it very loud and slow:
THEY…USED…TO…READ! They’d READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic takes
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching ’round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it’s Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy–Winkle and–
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How The Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There’s Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole–
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks–
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They’ll now begin to feel the need
Of having something good to read.
And once they start–oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They’ll grow so keen
They’ll wonder what they’d ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.
…
Yes, life is so much easier when the kids are “occupied.” But they learn too much from TV, and not enough from life! And I am just referring to the “safe” kid friendly shows and movies. Even the “educational” ones. They learn to be entertained, and not to entertain themselves. They learn to consume, not to create. They become dissatisfied with the real work involved in real life.
Is it okay for us as parents to ban this very common source of media (an other types like it) from our homes? I leave you with this quote:
“Movies, magazines, television, videos, the Internet, and other media are there as guests and should only be welcomed when they are appropriate for family enjoyment. Make your home a haven of peace and righteousness. Don’t allow evil influences to contaminate your own special spiritual environment.” (Ensign)
It is up to us to decide what our homes and environments are like. We have been blessed with this very special privilege and freedom, and we need to seek out our right to fortify our homes and families. Just because it is something “everybody else” has or does, does not mean that we are entitled to it, or even that we must want it (despite what TV has taught us 😉 )