I know we've talked about this before, but, Since we've moved the kids and I have not had a tv in the home. I feel so much better for it. I do go over to a friends and watch the news for an hour in the morning but that's it. I find myself listening and playing with the kids more and getting more housework done. While I miss watching my game shows I don't really miss just sitting there. I have found that I eat a lot less. No more mindless munching. I am sure I will probably bring one back into the house. I love watching movies but I think I will limit it to two hours a day.

-- mindy (speciallady@countrylife.net), November 14, 2001

Answers

If we ever get another tv, we will fix the knob so it can only be used to hook up the VCR. I like movies and documentaries, but many times the commercials are worse than anything else might be. A good rule for tv is this: are you watching people do or say things that you would not mind having done or said live in your living room? This especially pertains to sitcoms. Our children read a lot, play games, and generally make their own entertainment; they really don't miss having the tv around.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), November 14, 2001.

We are much the same here, although we have several sets, they are usually never on. We selectively watch some shows. Truthfully we are just too busy to watch it much.

I do like a lot of the informative shows on PBS, and sometimes we watch Lawrence Welk!! Which my kids don't mind as much as you would think, because they take piano lessons and many of these songs they know how to play. Television can be useful for some things, but shouldn't substitute for real life!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), November 14, 2001.

Don't get me started on TV! We have one for videos basically. Cable came to our street, and I reluctantly agreed to sign up, if they could put it in color without our having to change over our American TV to the Brazilian system (Pal-M). Said they could. Hooked it up and surprise! black and white. After a week of studying it, they said we'd have to "transcodify" (literal translation from Portuguese) our TV. I said rip out the cable! If they don't know something supposedly that simple, I don't want them complicating my life.

-- Randal (randal@rhyme.cjb.net), November 14, 2001.

I have a tv and vcr for the kids to watch videos but it's rare they do that anymore. I have about 100 children oriented videos they used to watch alot a few years ago. 'Kidsongs' series was good clean entertainment for them. I personally don't watch tv. I only had a couple of years of tv in my life. We don't have cable and I wouldn't pay money to have consumerism pumped into my home. Once in a while I see bits and pieces of tv shows and commercials when I'm out and they really turn me off. I'm sure their are some beneficial things on tv but I think its main purpose is to guide peoples thoughts. Most sitcoms seem to have an underlying message in the form of 'entertainment' and usually those messages are disturbing to me. Those sitcoms portray unrealistic lifestyles also, like people working minimum wage jobs yet living in $3k/month NYC condos. It seems like 1/3 of tv is commercials and I strongly feel tv would not really exist if it wasn't a tool to lure people into consumerism. Afterall, look how much advertisers pay for commercial time. It must work good for them to pay that much money for 30 seconds of airtime. I feel sorry for my friends that schedule their lives around tv or are more interested in some soap opera or actors lives than their own.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), November 14, 2001.

Tha last time the TV was on during the daytime was Sept. 11. I NEVER watch it during the day. On weekends, hubby might have a football game on if he is in the house, but he is usually doing something else at the time. I find it a mindless waste of time. We like to watch movies in the evening. If he has had a particularly stressful day, we will watch a few sit-coms that we tape.

-- Ardie/WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), November 14, 2001.

When my children were little, we never used the television as a babysitter, like most of my peers. My husband and I decided the amount of viewing and type of shows the children were to see. Not them or their friends. We controlled it; it didn't control us. The on-off knob works both ways. Someone told me once that guns don't kill; people do. So, wouldn't that same kind of reasoning be held for yet another inanimate object? Choices demand responsibity.

-- Iris (Sar_India@msn.com), November 14, 2001.