Several years ago our family turned off our Dish Network
account and we went primeval. We had been frequent and regular TV watchers for quite
some time. There had been a time early
in our marriage that we didn't have TV, but for the most part, TV was just as much a part of
our family life as eating.
Just before we turned off our access we were noticing how
much time was wasted in front of the TV, but also we noticed that our children
were becoming, if not fully addicted to TV.
If we were to turn the TV off, even if it weren’t a punishment, we would
hear major complaints. I noticed in my own life
that I wasn’t getting my job as a homemaker even close to complete. I set my watch by what TV show was on. When my husband was home, he too would plop
down and be consumed by the TV all night long. Our time alone was often shared with our good
friends on TV instead of by ourselves, reconnecting as a married couple.
We went on like this for about 2 years when we moved to Indiana when a miracle happened. We ran
over the cable from the satellite to the house. We had been too lazy to completely bury the
cable. Oh, the IRONY! At the time we didn’t really have the extra
money for the repair so we decided to try a little experiment. We took note of what our life was like
without TV. We decided to start with 1
month of no TV, which turned into 2. We
finally decided to stop wasting money and called to cancel our service. To
their credit, Dish tried everything in the book to keep us as customers, but
the freedom was just too good to let go of.
About this same time we were just starting
homeschooling. I immediately saw an
improvement in how much more and the quality of work that was getting
done. Some of that was due to the fact
that I wasn’t distracted. Some of it was
due to the fact that the kids weren’t distracted. Either way, there was an
improvement.
The kids were having a much more fulfilling life. More time
was spent playing outside and playing with forgotten toys. Books were being read. Chores were being done. Conversations were taking place.
One of the biggest changes was for me personally. I realized how addicted I was to cable
news. I did miss all my loved shows, but
more than that, I seriously missed a steady stream of Fox News! When anything happened in the world that was
news worthy, I was relegated to reading about it online. What a difference that makes to one’s
perspective! I was being desensitized,
but at the same time, I was becoming ever more worried. I can’t explain how both are true, but I was definitely
experiencing both.
This isn’t to say that we never watch TV any more. We own a vast collection of movies and TV
series on DVD. We love movies. It is a family past time. We don’t spend nearly as much time watching
DVS as we were with cable TV. The commercialism
effect has also been reduced. We were very literally being brainwashed by
commercials. I had no idea to what level
until about a year later I was walking through Wal-Mart and noticed that the
kids weren’t bugging me for every little single thing. I
started to evaluate the change in their behavior. Even at home, I wasn’t
hearing that very special phrase, “I want” much anymore. I credit that to a lack of advertising. The power of advertising is overwhelming for
anyone, but especially for children. It
almost makes me cry to think of what I had been allowing to happen to them.
There are times when we still miss TV as if it were an old
friend who had moved away. We all have
our favorite TV shows that we wish we could watch instantly instead of having
to wait for them to come out on DVD (we don’t do Internet TV because of a lack
of bandwidth). I still crave cable news
when big news is hitting. During
football season I wish we could invite friends over for bowl parties. The election season is the hardest. We are days away from the presidential
election and there is nothing more that I would love to do than watch the
debates and election night coverage without having to fight my internet
connection.
The temptation is great, but when I have rare access to TV
now, I am appalled at what is on. Rarely
can I find a show that doesn’t place a yearning for material things in our
hearts, glorify sin, or try to propagandize a world view contrary to our own.
The pickin’s are slim. I quickly
remember that TV is no better than a steady diet of desert or even poison in many
cases. Why should we pay someone to violate
us like that?
Dropping TV has been one of the best things we have ever
done for our family. I would highly
suggest to any family, but especially those starting off in homeschooling and
Christian families to turn off cable/satellite TV. Give it a trial period of 3 months, although
you won’t need that long to come to the same conclusion I did. Once you turn it off, start setting aside
that money for a vacation or something fun that the whole family can get
behind.
Will we ever turn it back on? At this time, I don’t a time when we will
ever turn back on cable or satellite TV. However, I can see a day when we allow
it back in the house in the form of Internet TV. We will have to wait until a better, faster
form of Internet is offered in our area, but yes, we would like to be able to
use TV in a responsible way for education and some limited entertainment.
We allowed TV to become an idol in our lives. Now that we have seen the damage it was doing
to our lives and relationships, I think we can be responsible in our use of
it. It certainly is a wonderful tool. I
am very thankful that we were able to experience what life was like without it,
and if we never had access to it again, I wouldn’t feel deprived.
