What The? Wednesday
Posted by 
November 21, 2012 •
I’m going to give this vintage ad the benefit of the doubt. I doubt they had ANY idea how television would impact our lives in the ‘future’. We’ve come a long way from one station in black and white that only airs for an hour a day.
There is no doubt however that TV has its benefits. The problem is not TV in itself but how TV has taken over our lives. 24 hr kids channels, copious amounts of advertising, sponsored programs, trashy and inappropriate shows, sexualised ads..the list goes on.
As with any media TV is addictive – just try giving it up! This is why we need to be mindful as to how much TV is appropriate (or good for us) as a family. I know we are always trying to adjust the amount in our family and I admit, we don’t always do this brilliantly.
Do you have a TV free household?
Do you think you (or you kids!) could survive without TV?
Tags: advertising, kids, marketing to children, Motorola, parenting, TV, vintage ads
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Yes, we are tv-free and love it. What started as a 1-week trial turning off the box has lasted almost a decade.
Children are too vulnerable to be allowed to be exposed to all the sex, violence, advertising, peer pressure, and inappropriate role-modelling to be put in front of the set, especially as intellectually many can not determine reality from fiction. Yes I believe it is an addiction too. As a family we wonder how anyone gets anything done, or fully embraces life with a tv in the home. BTW, we also have a no circulars sign on our letterbox, as these are big time wasters too.
Hope, that’s awesome. Thanks for replying – I feel encouraged by your comment!
I agree with everything you said. I also think it’s habit that goes with the addiction especially at night for me. If I have ‘spare’ time I often think to turn it on and then regret the fact I could’ve been reading a book or doing something else. I think we are getting closer to removing our TV..but not quite there…have to convince hubby!!
Tara, convincing hubby came after the event for our household. It was then that he finally admitted HE was ADDICTED. (I watched mostly to be with him.) It is only now that he/we may watch something via tv-on-demand online. You can start and stop whenever you please, there are often no advertisements, and the season usually finishes just as you are getting to like it, so there is no chance to get hooked all over again
The children have a hand-picked library of wholesome / educational / family-value-oriented dvds and when we do watch a movie at home it is usually for family night, involving a meal, sitting together, some sort of treat that we all contribute to for supper and a late bedtime – so it’s part of making a memory and giving our children the message that they are important to us. There are many ways to gain control over the box in the corner (Have you read Roald Dahl’s television poem; or searched for ‘turn off your tv’ on the internet ?) Have you thought about choosing the programmes that you want to watch at the beginning of the week, and keeping each other accountable. What about recording the programmes and watching them without ads by forwarding through them? Perhaps limiting to 1 programme a day? Or half an hour per day? Or no tv on week nights? Or for the children, earning one programme per week? (Our children still have the opportunity of earning computer time (up to 4x 1/2 hours per week) but this can be leveraged as a consequence too 
) All the best with whatever you decide – at least you are aware you do have a choice!
Hope, those are great suggestions! Thankyou! I started making some plans yesterday so feeling all inspired…now just to figure out the alternative for 5am when my kids wake up!