Young People Ask . . .
Am I Watching Too Much TV?
“I thought I would die!” a youth exclaimed. And what grueling ordeal had he endured? A week without television.
FOR many youths, TV watching may be a serious addiction. Addiction? Perhaps. In her book The Plug-In Drug, Marie Winn explains: “An addict does not merely pursue a pleasurable experience . . . He needs to repeat it again and again.”
Marie Winn further notes: “A serious addiction is distinguished from a harmless pursuit of pleasure by its distinctly destructive elements. A heroin addict, for instance, leads a damaged life: his increasing need for heroin in increasing doses prevents him from working, from maintaining relationships, from developing in human ways. Similarly an alcoholic’s life is narrowed and dehumanized by his dependence on alcohol.”
But what about a “TV addict”? Could he likewise suffer a “damaged life”? Before answering that, let us address ourselves to the question . . .
‘Am I a TV Addict?’
Recall that first sign of addiction: The need to enjoy something repeatedly. Take a few minutes and try to figure out on paper just how many hours a week you spend watching TV. Or try keeping a log of the hours you spend in front of the TV for a week. Do you turn it on the very minute you get home? When do you turn it off? How many shows are “must-sees” every week? You might be shocked at the results.
Surveys indicate that by age 18 the average American youth will have watched some 15,000 hours of TV! That would mean that school-age youths watch well over three hours of TV every day. Such addiction apparently starts early in life, for preschool children often watch over four hours of TV a day!
But when do youths find the time for all this TV viewing? Notes writer Vance Packard: “Most of America’s children, including preschoolers, are watching TV during the prime-time hour eight to nine at night, which probably accounts for the networks’ catering to juvenile or childish tastes then. . . . About a million children are watching the tube between midnight and one A.M. when the vast majority of U.S. adults have long been asleep.”
Many youths would thus have to confess to being “TV junkies.” But what about the ‘damage’ such an addiction inevitably brings? Here are just a few of the problems excessive TV viewing can bring:
● SLIPPING GRADES: The National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.) reported that there does appear to be a connection between lower IQs, imagination and creativity, and heavy TV viewing. The report further said: “Almost all the research has found that older children beyond the fourth grade who watch television a great deal tend to have lower school achievement, especially in reading.” There may be several reasons for this.
A youth named Richard says: “I think television has done me more harm than good because instead of using time for studying, I’ve spent it watching TV.” However, others feel the medium itself interferes with learning. Claims Paul Copperman in The Literacy Hoax: “Television’s effect on children is to create an expectation that learning should be easy, passive, and entertaining.” The TV addict may thus find studying an ordeal.
● POOR READING HABITS: When was the last time you picked up a book and read it from cover to cover? A spokesman for the West German Association of Book Dealers lamented: “We have become a nation of people who go home after work and fall asleep in front of the television. We are reading less and less.” Why? “It is easier to watch a screen and learn passively than it is to read, and that’s what students become used to.” A report from Australia was equally disturbing. “For every hour spent reading,” claimed one writer, “the average Australian child will have seen seven hours of television.”
‘But can’t you learn just as much from watching TV?’ you may ask. No doubt about it, it’s hard to beat TV for its ability to bring information to your eyes and ears rapidly. Nevertheless, watching TV is passive. Reading, however, requires complex mental manipulations as your eye and brain work together to transform written symbols into words and words into thoughts. Reading is therefore mind stretching, whereas excessive TV viewing is mind dulling.
For Christian youths, though, failing to read has even more serious consequences. The Bible commands them to read God’s Word ‘in an undertone day and night.’ (Joshua 1:8) Anything that interferes with this routine is a danger to their relationship with God!
● DIMINISHED FAMILY LIFE: Wrote one Christian woman: “Because of excessive TV viewing . . . I was very lonely and felt isolated. It was as if [my] family were all strangers.” Do you likewise find yourself spending less time with your family because of TV?
● LAZINESS: Some feel that the very passiveness of TV “may lead to [a youth’s] expectation that [his] needs will be met without effort and to a passive approach to life.”
No doubt about it, too much TV can indeed ‘damage your life.’ But as with most addictions, people are often reluctant to admit they have a problem. Consider, then, the experience of a young man named Wyant who openly admits . . .
‘I Was a TV Addict’
Awake!: How old were you when you got hooked on TV?
Wyant: About ten years old. As soon as I came home from school
I’d turn on the TV. First I’d watch the cartoons and
kiddie programs. Then the news would come on, and I
wasn’t so much into that, so I’d go into the kitchen and
look for something to eat. After that, I’d go back to the
TV and watch till I wanted to go to sleep.
Awake!: Didn’t you have chores to do around the home?
Wyant: My folks weren’t strict. They both worked, and when Mom
came home she was too tired to do anything. She left the
cooking to my sisters. And Dad at times didn’t come home
till nine or ten o’clock at night.
Awake!: But when did you have time for your friends?
Wyant: The TV was my friend.
Awake!: Then you never had time for play or sports?
Wyant: [laughing] I have no athletic abilities. Because I watched
TV all the time, I never developed them. I’m a terrible
basketball player. And in gym class I was always the last
one to get chosen. I wish, though, I had developed my
athletic abilities a bit more—not so that I could have
gone around boasting, but just so I could have at least
enjoyed myself.
Awake!: What about your grades?
Wyant: I managed in grammar school. I’d stay up late and do my
homework at the last minute. But it was harder in high
school because I had developed such poor study habits.
Awake!: Has watching all that TV affected you?
Wyant: Yes. Sometimes when I’m around people, I find myself just
watching them—as if I were watching a TV talk
show—instead of participating in the conversation. I wish
I could relate better to people.
Awake!: Well, you’ve done just fine in this conversation. Obviously you’ve overcome your addiction.
How Wyant and others did this will be the subject of a future article. In the meantime, though, give serious thought to how much TV you are watching. TV, when kept under control, may have its place. But one who wants to live by Bible principles realizes the danger of watching too much of it. So when it comes to TV, have the attitude of the apostle Paul who said: “I am not going to let anything make me its slave.” (Italics ours.)—1 Corinthians 6:12, Today’s English Version.
[Pictures on page 23]
Just as an alcoholic loses control over his drinking, some lose control over how much TV they watch