Is TV destroying us?

[Smiling JOe]

we're all going to hell in a handbag...but this looks pretty sweet...

If that gadget is cheap enough, think of the crazy marketing opportunities which it may bring forth. Can you imagine going down the grocery isle and watching product commercials on each label of cereal?

 

[GoodWitch58]

One of the best purchases I have ever made: a DVR. Now, I can not only watch what I want without those horrible commercials; I can also only watch the portion of any program I want. Hardly spend any time watching TV.

but love Planet Earth, Charlie Rose, and Rick Steve's Travel shows....

 

[30A Skunkape]

If it wasn't for TV, we would have to find other ways to waste time at night...SOWALing, being Freemasons, bowling...

 

[Chickpea]

When I was growing up, family vacations were spent at a cabin w/ no television and limited radio reception. We spent our evenings/down time talking, reading, or playing cards and board games w/ our parents, grandparents, and cousins.

With the exception of football playoffs and the Superbowl, no television was allowed when there were guests over.

Occassionally, if we rented a family movie it was allowed for us to eat dinner in front of the TV, but still as a family.

During car trips we were entertained by travel versions of games, books on tape, and car games. Plane flights involved card games and quiet versions of car games.

Now it seems that the TV is everywhere - people want them in their kitchens, bathrooms, holiday bunkrooms need to have internet access and cable, and cars and boats have dvd players to entertain the kids when they are on the move.

Scooterbug, I actually love these quotes of yours and like you, am nostalgic somewhat for these times as I am old enough to remember them.

Like everything - IMO, TV in moderation is just fine (as is wine, food, etc..) - although what drives me absolutely INSANE is going over to someone's house and having the TV on as background noise!!! I literally want to grab it and chuck out of the window - it is a anti-social as it gets.

We grew up with a tiny black and white TV and if we spent an hour a week it was too much (but then again there were no good shows!!) but here is something we actually tried to do DAILY:

We would sit down to dinner as a family and my Dad would hand someone at the table the daily newspaper - one of us (whoever's turn it was) had to pick an article (could be any of our choosing)- politics, sports, entertainment, business, etc...) and then had to summarize it for the others at the table - we fondly called it giving the reader's digest version of it. It was tedious and tiresome growing up but fun and engaging as we got older and I cannot wait to start this with my daughters!

 

[Chickpea]

"Reading literature nurtures our intelligence, our imagination, and our very soul.

SJ,
There is nothing in the world for me like a good book that can capture your imagination and transport you far far away!!! And like many other things it is one of the best things to do with your child - communicating a love for books- this is something that can be and is easily nurtured and encouraged!

 

[Cil]

Here is a quick note regarding this book, from a reader:

"Reading literature nurtures our intelligence, our imagination, and our very soul. So believes Edmundson, a professor at the University of Viriginia, as so many great thinkers have believed over the centuries, writers Edmundson quotes with passion and expertise as he places literature at the very heart of a liberal-arts education, which he fears is becoming an endangered tradition. ... Here he objects to the commercialization of higher education as students are recast as consumers and instruction is reduced to job training. [/I]

But back in the past, were not novels considered a frivolous, escapist waste of time?
Unless it was an edifying sermon, literature was considered "low" culture.
(However, anyone who could afford it still gobbled up Chaucer or Daniel Defoe.)
I am no apologist for television. Mostly, the only TV I watch is Daily Show, Colbert, and Scrubs reruns.
I agree that both TV and the internet can be hypnotic, addictive and harmful.
I also agree that a liberal arts education is endangered and students now look upon learning as a commodity, but that is how our corporate-centered society operates these days. A college degree is the new high school diploma. I shudder when I look at the budget for the athletic department of our universities, then compare it with what they spend on the English department.
As with anything, moderation is desirable.

 

[scooterbug44]

Scooterbug, I actually love these quotes of yours and like you, am nostalgic somewhat for these times as I am old enough to remember them.

We would sit down to dinner as a family and my Dad would hand someone at the table the daily newspaper - one of us (whoever's turn it was) had to pick an article (could be any of our choosing)- politics, sports, entertainment, business, etc...) and then had to summarize it for the others at the table - we fondly called it giving the reader's digest version of it. It was tedious and tiresome growing up but fun and engaging as we got older and I cannot wait to start this with my daughters!

Glad you enjoy! Those times weren't that long ago, I'm haven't even hit 30 yet!

Love the newspaper summaries at the table! With the exception of sunday mornings we weren't allowed to read the paper if food was on the table or others were present, but my mother read books to us every morning at breakfast.

 

[Mango]

Love the newspaper summaries at the table! With the exception of sunday mornings we weren't allowed to read the paper if food was on the table or others were present, but my mother read books to us every morning at breakfast.

You got books? I got the riot act every morning. :funn:

 

[Smiling JOe]

I shudder when I look at the budget for the athletic department of our universities, then compare it with what they spend on the English department.

Only if the English Dept students sold tickets and booze to weekly performances of the Nude version of Much Ado About Nothing, (and sell the DVD's) would they have a chance at competing with the revenues taken in by the Athletic Dept.

 

[30gAy]

Well Gaawwwhhhhlleee (ala Gomer Pyle), I do believe TV has already warped us beyond hope.

See? I couldn?t even address this topic without making TV references, and now I?d like to solve the puzzle, Vanna:

TV shuts down our brains and makes us intellectually passive.

Of course there are some upsides; you know my partner got most of his romantic cues via cheesy sitcoms. To this day, he goes all Gomez on me every time I speak French (or any foreign language for that matter). I can?t hardly order dinner at Coco?s without risk of being molested.

Ah, C?est la vie???.