You know what.For the past six months, my household has been without

[KlatooBNikto]

any cable TV, major newwspapers, magazines and the like.My two kids in high school are without any internet connections except when they need it for school work and none of us has missed anything ! My kids, who used to grumble like addicts do after their daily fix is withheld, now sit with their books and their grades have markedly improved.They even have time to talk to their parents! And, miracle of miracles, they talk to the parents politely!

I have been so pleased with all the good, I am planning to get rid of the Tvs we have and just use our cable money to buy books.

[ananda]

1. Good for you!

Well done.

Sue

[militaryWife]

2. we have "no tv tuesday"

in our house. It's not much, but you are right, there is more accomplished on Tuesday than any other day of the week. And we're not big t.v. watchers, we're constantly going to piano, soccer, scounts, etc....

baby steps

mw

[KlatooBNikto]

3. My son is a tennis player.My daughter plays the cello for the local

Orchestra.They now have time for those activities and have improved at them too.So, all in all, we have found the culprit that is not only eating away our time but turning our brains to mush.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Many families around here

don't have television, or if they do, don't have a dish (this is a rural area, where there's no such thing as cable) and only use TVs to show videos. Their kids spend their time playing or reading and studying. They tend to be healthier than couch potatoes, less aggressive, etc.

[Mom_and_Dad]

5. TV free for 2 years

We've had no TV for 2 years and as a result our 6 yr old daughter is not "commercialized". The only TV she gets is when we are in hotel rooms and even then it's limited to Sesame Street. As for us, our news is NPR or AAR (streamed) so our brains have not turned to mush.

[KlatooBNikto]

6. Great! Your daughter is going to thank you when she is fully grown.

But expect tantrums and screams when she gets to Junior High.

[Liberal In Texas]

7. We haven't had cable for years. There are some things I miss

like the History Channel or A&E, but if there is really something I want to see, it usually can be found on DVD at a later time.

[Doomy]

8. I congratulate you

because you are doing the right thing. I grew up in Generation X and all we did was play Nintendo and hang out at the arcade. I got my GED eventually but still can't get a decent job. One thing is for sure is that I will never work in a convenience store again. Slave labor.

[militaryWife]

9. when stationed in Europe

we only had one channel, AFN (armed forces network), and due to sofa agreements with the European countries, could not show ANY commercials. So three of my children's most formative years were commercial free. Our consumerism dropped dramatically (didn't need it if I didn't see it)and the desire to "eat" reduced as well(who wants a big juicy burger at 9pm if it isn't on t.v?).

When we came back to the US this overwhelming crush of BUY, WANT, NEED hit us between the eyes, and we were shocked. As Americans, we are bombarded every minute of every day. It is frightening. :scared:

mw

[WolverineDG]

10. well, i'm still hooked up to cable

but only to get countdown on msnbc. the only time the tube is on at my house is 7-8pm weekdays for countdown & then on weekends for whatever dvds came in that week from netflix. :) between countdown & DU, i'm up to speed & then some on current events. for example, when i first started yakking about DSM, my friends rolled their eyes & thought i was nuts...now they think i'm psychic.

my compulsion to go out & buy stuff has gone way way way down. hmm, could it be the lack of exposure to ads? :think:

dg

[Straight Shooter]

11. Don't buy books. Check them out from the library and donate to them.

That is, if they have the books you want. Or, buy the books and then donate them to the library.

I agree with restricting television access and even Internet access if it narrows someone's life to the point where they aren't fulfilling their potential. (Heh, I should talk, eh?)

[KlatooBNikto]

12. Good suggestion.Will do.

[Straight Shooter]

13. Thanks.

I was afraid I was sounding a little, uh, bossy. :7

[H2O Man]

14. For the first five years

we lived in this house, we were without tv or internet. We live in a rural area; our driveway is part of an old turnpike, and our house was a stage coach station pre-1800. In the warmer months, we spent a lot of time at the waterfalls, and in the cold months, we huddled around the central fire places.

In the past five years, we've had tv (a dish) and internet. There is no question that the earlier years were more peaceful, and things were at a slower pace. But kids need to use computers for school.

I don't think that tv/computers interfere with books. Everyone in this house reads a lot. There's at least one book shelf in most of the rooms here.

[KlatooBNikto]

15. Good work.My grown kids were also brought up that way with a lot of books.

The little ones are not only born with brand names on their lips they are subject to even more peer pressure from the kids in our schools. I deceided that it is time they went without the distractions of TV/Internet until they graduated from high school.I think that is working so far.

[nonconformist]

16. We're somewhere in the middle

We're basically TV news free. We canceled our newspaper a couple of years ago. We monitor and limit viewing, particularly "junk" viewing. We don't allow TV's in our children's rooms. I think we have a happy medium - one doesn't have to be on one extreme or the other.

[arcos]

17. You'll regret not allowing them to use the Internet...

Sure, they may find all kinds of useless stuff, but you are not allowing them to look for things that may interest them all by themselves.

Ten years ago when I was 14 I started using the net, and it really changed everything. It allowed me to grow quickly, and to learn about things that interested me (politics, computers)... sometime you just can't find the same information in books.

I would be a more ignorant person if not for the Internet in my teenage years...

[KharmaTrain]

18. We Did Critical Viewing

Kudos in your kids doing well...and for some this is a way to counter the outside noise coming in...I went about it a different way.

From an early age, I impressed on my kids that what they saw on TV wasn't real, and if they ever thought it was to take a second look before they came to that conclusion. Thus it was easy to debunk so much of the crap that was on...kids show and the like cause at an early age my kids saw the merchandising and the exploitation of these shows.

Now both are well on their way to being fine critical thinkers and are very proud Democrats. My son and I have a nightly ritual around The Daily Show and my daughter is constantly finding interesting news items and other alternative media information on her surfing.

The "turn it off" mentality may work for some, but I think an being a critical viewer serves a valuable purpose. So many these days are inundated with messages of what to tell them what to think...it's important, at an early age, that they know whose really on their side and not.