The idiot box syndrome

[AlphaCentauri]

One of the most time-consuming activities in the life of young children these days is neither school nor family interaction, instead, it's watching TV. No doubt TV can be an educational medium, depending on what kids watch, but most television programmes these days border on terrible.

Some people ask, wouldn't it be better to get rid of our TV sets until after our children have grown up? But TV with its unparalleled capacity, has occasionally demonstrated the potential it carries. So, don't smash the set in despair. Learn to control it, instead of becoming its slave.

Conversation killer TV is an enemy of conversation within the family.A child once reprimanded the television technician as he came two days later than he was supposed to, for repairing the set. "Uncle," said the child, "why did you come late, we had to talk to each other to pass our time." Really, how can we talk to each other when a multi-crore production in living colour is always beckoning out attention?

Another factor of concern is the current fashion, whereby programme directors are compelled to go a little further, use a little more profanity, discuss the undiscussable, assault the concept of good taste and decency In doing do, they are hacking away at the foundations of the family.

There are three objectives to be followed when TV comes between you and your child - to monitor the quality of the programmes being watched; to regulate the quantity of television they see; and to include the entire family in establishing a television policy, if possible.

Here is a system that is very effective in accomplishing all three of these purposes. Step 1: Parents should sit down with the children and select a list of approved programmes that are appropriate for each age level.

Step 2: Cut pieces of paper about the size of a normal movie ticket. Issue each child 10 tickets per week, and let him use them to "buy" the privilege of watching the programmes on the approved list. When his tickets are gone, his television viewing is over for that week. This teaches him to choose what he most wants to spend his time on.

This system can be modified to fit individual home situations. You might also give extra tickets as rewards for achievement or some other praiseworthy behaviour.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=a01d7e29-bb55-48ef-9b50-cf9ace99226b&MatchID1=4698&TeamID1=2&TeamID2=5&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1185&PrimaryID=4698&Headline=The+idiot+box+syndrome

[Deja Q]

1. It's freedom of speech and it's peoples' choice to turn it off.

:popcorn:

[ColbertWatcher]

7. There are many glorious things on...

...that appeal to a vast array of people...

[AlphaCentauri]

11. LOL ..... and is paid advertisement too

so where is the freedom

:tv:

[ColbertWatcher]

2. SciAm published a study about the boob toob...

Reproduced here:

What is more surprising is that the sense of relaxation ends when the set is turned
off, but the feelings of passivity and lowered alertness continue. Survey
participants commonly reflect that television has somehow absorbed or sucked
out their energy, leaving them depleted. They say they have more difficulty
concentrating after viewing than before. In contrast, they rarely indicate such
difficulty after reading. After playing sports or engaging in hobbies, people report
improvements in mood. After watching TV, people's moods are about the same
or worse than before.

Within moments of sitting or lying down and pushing the "power" button,
viewers report feeling more relaxed. Because the relaxation occurs quickly,
people are conditioned to associate viewing with rest and lack of tension. The
association is positively reinforced because viewers remain relaxed throughout
viewing, and it is negatively reinforced via the stress and dysphoric rumination
that occurs once the screen goes blank again.

[Warpy]

3. Ever watch a big group of people in a room with the TV on?

Try it sometime, it's intensely weird. They'll talk and laugh all during the programming, but fall silent as a tomb during the commercials.

I started to notice that back in the 70s when I didn't own a TV. It was beyond bizarre.

When I finally got a box, I made sure it was on PBS 99% of the time.

[ColbertWatcher]

13. They have TVs at the grocery store, the bank...

...it gets really annoying.

[elocs]

14. That's odd because I remember exactly the opposite when I was in college in the 70s.

I can remember watching tv with large groups of people in the student union, in particular the World Series in 1972 (lots of election ads on). People would laugh hilariously at commercials that you wouldn't even notice while watching alone. One thing that students loved to watch in college in the early 70s was Seseme Street.

[ben_meyers]

4. Newton Minnow 1961

When television is good, nothing--not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers--nothing is better.

But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you--and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.

And if you don't know who he was, more's the shame

[ColbertWatcher]

5. Everyone should know who Newton is...

[NRaleighLiberal]

6. Absolutely. We hardly watch it at all....and have only basic cable, so essentially worthless.

We actually interact with the world and the arts - read, listen to music, talk, walk, kayak, garden. Is our way better? Nope. But it is better for us, and turning away from the TV has helped my blood pressure, mood, and given us greater perspective. Much better to think than to be sold to!

by the way...why do people believe anything that they see on TV (esp. ads!!!!)

[ColbertWatcher]

8. why do people believe anything that they see on TV

[Echo In Light]

10. Corporate culture "values" and indoctrination

[ColbertWatcher]

12. You don't think attacking intellectual pursuits...

...has a hand in it?

Or is that part of the values or a tactic in the indoctrination?

I think I answered my own question.

[Echo In Light]

25. Indirectly, sometimes overtly - depends on how one perceives it

If substanceless, canned emotion takes priority within most popular shows/movies, and all else is secondary to such properties, does one examine this process and come to the conclusion that corporations are merely providing the public with what they want, or, does one draw the conclusion that the corporate stratagem all along has been, at least in part, to condition the public mind toward finding enjoyment and solace within such superficial distractions? {relegating more substantive material to the back burner}

[ColbertWatcher]

28. Chicken, egg. n/t

[Echo In Light]

9. TV the Brainwasher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHpnn13Amac

How Television Affects Your Brain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_acfHQiIhk0&feature=related

"The Gulf War ... was made popular by an immense propaganda barrage unleashed by the Pentagon, the media, and government, creating an ideological milieu in which 45 percent of the population said it would be prepared to use nuclear weapons against Iraq. Military actions were, transformed into a grotesque national spectacle, a great celebration of war-making." ~ Carl Boggs
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Media_control_propaganda/Media_Control.html

[elocs]

15. When it comes to attitudes toward tv view it is interesting how opposite ends of the spectrum meet.

For the politically Liberal it is almost a requirement to claim not to watch tv at all or even to own one. If you do watch, it is only very little and then most certainly always PBS. This carries with it a self congratulatory air of intellectual superiority that they are better than the unwashed masses of brainwashed boob-tubers (they would deny this, of course, but denying it is a requirement for being a Liberal: you may feel superior to others, but you cannot admit it).

On the other end of the spectrum is a church I know. A very, very conservative Pentecostal church. They do not have televisons because they believe it is worldy entertainment and ungodly. They are proud and smug about the fact that they do not own and watch television. They surely believe that they are morally superior to the unwashed masses of brainwashed boob-tubers.

Yes, I find that to be very interesting. Very interesting indeed.

[Berry Cool]

18. TV is a tool like anything else.

It's not inherently evil to own one or to watch one. The key is to use it, not let it use you.

I too am always amazed at the "TV-free intellectual snobbery" I see amongst the liberal. Yet many of these same people could never imagine living without a private motor vehicle. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

[Fumesucker]

19. Why is it "snobbery" to not watch that which you find uninteresting?

I don't watch TV because I find just about everything on it boring beyond belief..

It simply isn't worth the effort to me to seek out the few programs I might find interesting.

[Berry Cool]

21. That's fine, for you.

Other people are snobs about it. That's what I'm saying.

Other people just seem to find the need to make lots and lots of posts about how they don't own a TV or don't watch TV or threw out their TVs 30 years ago. Sometimes one just wonders why.

[MedleyMisty]

20. What if it's just that people honestly don't like what's on TV?

So I don't like to watch reality shows or shows about celebrities. Why is that automatically interpreted as "intellectual snobbery"? Sounds like anti-intellectual conformity enforcement.

I spend probably even more time in front of a glowing box than people who do obsessively watch TV, though - but hey, at least this is a pretty interactive glowing box. ;)

[Berry Cool]

22. Unless someone is forcing you to watch reality shows or shows about celebrities at gunpoint,

I don't see where "anti-intellectual conformity enforcement" comes in.

I own a TV, but I never watch reality shows or shows about celebrities. Amazingly enough, if you own a TV, you get to pick what you want to watch and don't want to watch. Even if there's a lot on that you don't want to watch. At least that way, you have the option, if you choose it.

No one's coming into your home with a gun and forcing you into anything.

[Echo In Light]

24. Within a social climate that mirrors tv {corporate} directives, it's ridiculous to suppose...

...that it doesn't impact the corporate cultural landscape, even for those who don't watch the mainstream "must see" shows. Such a person is still surrounded by those who do, operating within social and belief systems bolstered by TV un-reality.

This is a crucial aspect of cultural indoctrination. Disavowing it is akin to those level headed "moderates" who insist that our mainline press is unbiased, Bush was actually elected in 00, criminal conspiracies are non-existent, and so forth: it sounds satisfying to them to dismiss the studies in this area as "psycho babble," as authoritarian minded people seek to oversimplify and encapsulate comprehensive problems into easy to digest memes {poor people need to "get over it," and "pull themselves up by their bootstraps"} that may be factually untrue, even if millions believe the same. It removes the ominous fact that the corporate mindset seeks to coerce the collective consciousness for its own aims, and smugly says, no one's forcing you. That's like suggesting one should avoid the water while in the ocean.

One should also take into consideration that large numbers of people still get all of their "news" {corporate/state nexus propaganda} from the boob tube. That speaks volumes.

[baby_mouse]

35. I have neither a car, nor a TV. I'm such a SNOB.

My god, all this time I thought the revolting distortions of politics and reality I saw on the goggle box were to be avoided and amounted to little more than meaningless gibberish, but now I realise that I just want to feel that I'm better than everyone else.

Joy, rapture! I rejoice in my new-found normality! It's time for me to get down and dirty with the rest of the population and sit in front of "America's Next Top Model". WHO WILL WIN? Screech, scrape, bitch, moan, it's all good clean fun! And I thought it was bad to judge people on their appearances alone. But that's SNOBBERY! I had no idea! I thought it was better to treat people as if they were real human beings with their own opinions and more to them than a 20 minute slot on a throw-away 1-liner fest, but that's just intellectual snobbery! Who am I kidding? I should dismiss them with a hearty sneer like normal, down-to-earth people because they're ugly!

My god, you know, I've never watched a single Big Brother episode, not ONE. How can I have any understanding of reality without watching reality TV shows? Imagine the hidden snobbery, all this time! I thought I was just going about my life as normal when suddenly everyone was caught up in this fucked up craze where it suddenly became not only okay but FASHIONABLE to make judgements of people based on half-assed comments on a TV programme and then extending the same crap to people in real life. I thought it was a trivialisation of human beings! I thought it was wrong to go and find vulnerable people desperate for popularity and stuff them in a game guaranteed to humiliate them for the sake of a quick buck, but who was I to have any opinions about what they or their TV exec pals did at ALL?

You now, I've had a fundamental realisation about myself as a result of your post. I used to think that current TV (Not the TV of the 80s or 70s, which was silly and probably a waste of time, but mostly harmless fun) was hell-bent on COSTING people emotionally, cheapening their value of themselves, springing sicko surprises on them a la Springer ("All this time I've been a GUY"), degrading the way we relate to each other, normalising imprisonment and stupid law-enforemcent techniques ("24"... tick tick tick, QUICK, Jack, GET THE ELECTRODES, time is RUNNING OUT) and generally dumbing down the populace as far as possible, because, after all, TV these days is where most people get their view of what reality's like beyond their own immediate social sphere and surroundings, but now I understand that any concern regarding the use of the most powerful communication tool ever devised to change the way people think is nothing more than me being a SNOB.

[baby_mouse]

32. Snobby old me, I guess.

I thought I hated TV because it sucked my time and life away from me, but I suppose it must really be because I want to feel superior to somebody. Who knew?

You know, maybe it's nothing to DO with people who do watch TV. Maybe TV haters like just actually HATE TV. Have you considered that possibility?

I hope the following will enlighten you: I don't think I'm superior to people who watch TV but I do find it creepy and bizarre when people do nothing BUT watch TV. There are people like that in my office, the sole subject of conversation is what happened on TV last night. It's all they do with their free time. I think it's weird. Its not how I was brought up, for sure. Also I really resent being accused of being strange or freaky or a "liberal snob" just because I DON'T want to watch TV. Who are you to tell me what to do with my free time?

Oh, incidentally, your conservative church may get off on their superiority, but to me that's a bit like getting off on your superiority at not having a tattoo. They establish the taboo, avoid it and feel smug. Ta Da! That's what conservative christianity is all about. Liberals object to the content of TV, not the concept. If TV execs had any interest in putting out stuff that was some good I wouldn't mind it so much (I may even watch it) but it's all crap.

[sudopod]

16. Nope. Smasing the TV is the right thing to do. ;) nt

[DaveJ]

17. TV? What's THAT?

My teenage stepdaughters think TV is for old farts. They never watch it, period.

Instead it's the internet and the phone, often both at the same time.

Okay, I admit they watched TV sometimes when they were too young to converse intelligently.

But, overall, I'd say that the millennial generation is a thousand times more socially adept than their parents ever were.

[Berry Cool]

23. Oh, they're socially adept all right, on the Internet and the phone.

It's face-to-face stuff they can't handle.

Then again, I hear face-to-face is for old farts.

[DaveJ]

39. Hmm...

They are incredibly social. They are online creating a network of friends and out with them more often than not. They base their friendships on who they are as human beings, not how much money they have, who is the jock or not, who gets the most 'action', etc., like teens around me did when I was growing up.

So kind of you assuming the worst though. Thanks a lot. :sarcasm:

[baby_mouse]

36. I hope you're right. I really do. NT,

[DaveJ]

40. I have no allusion that they're perfect....

...far from it. Age 16 seems to be the perfect age in their cases, but after that the older 18 yr old went her own direction in life. She thinks she's being responsible but she's driving my wife and I crazy, but what can we do at that age? The younger one is 16 now, seems perfect at the moment, but we are bracing ourselves for what happens next.

However, I can categorically state that they have no interest in TV whatsoever, their friends totally define who they are, and they maintain those friendships online. TV is becoming a thing of the past. I think they are representative of what kids will be like from now on, as long as the web is around.

[Snarkturian Clone]

26. Liberal Purity Test #435425234:

Hate of television directly proportional to level of intellect lauded over others.

[Echo In Light]

27. Yeah!...damn liberals, anyway

[Aragorn]

29. how to indoctrinate your own kids

I don't mean this to be sarcastic at all. I like the ticket system, and used similar form when my kids were younger.

In general the question becomes "how much do parents want to indoctrinate their children into a particular belief system"? For instance, should people be tolerant, helpful, productive, etc. Is self-interest the most important thing in life? Is trying to indoctrinate others, especially one's children, OK or not?

Teach by example.

As for TV, I watch certain sports, Turner Classic Movies, Showtime spectrum (inc Sundance and IFC)and not much else. Network programming seems mindless and boring, personally. It is apparently entertaining to millions and I do feel it dumbs down our society. I do suspect that effect is OK with corporations and advertisers.

TVs are especially useful for video games, however, as are computers. And some of these arguments certainly apply to the internet. I always provided computer games and video games as an alternative when my kids were young. Thinking games, not shoot-em-ups. One daughter is on law school and one is starting med school. They use computers as tools, and still play games and communicate with peers, with computers.

What if parents watch network TV every night and their kids don't? May be the kids go to college, etc? What about the other way around?

I'd like to hear more specific answers about what programs DUers watch or don't watch. I do not see any point in reality TV or game shows, although as a child daytime game shows were frequently watched.

[Echo In Light]

30. A few recommended books/films:

The Glass Teat, Volumes 1 and 2, by Harlan Ellison

Boxed In: The Culture of TV, by Mark Crispin Miller

One Dimensional Man, by Herbert Marcuse

The Myth of the Liberal Media: The Propaganda Model of News, Featuring Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman {doc film}

Manufacturing Consent {doc film}

Orwell Rolls In His Grave {doc film}

Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion: by Anthony Pratkanis, Elliot Aronson

[Wabbajack_]

31. If I'm awake the TV is on

I luv tv.

[Fumesucker]

33. If the TV is on

You aren't really awake. :D

[Echo In Light]

34. "Watching television is like taking black spray paint to your third eye." - Bill Hicks

[tim_smith]

37. I second that!

[MindPilot]

38. As much as I like Bill Hicks....

It is little disingenuous when guys like him or George Carlin criticize television since they pretty much wouldn't have careers if not for TV.

And before the DU Grammar Squad drops in, yes I know I'm taking a bit of literary license writing about Hicks in the present tense.

[Echo In Light]

43. Carlin, to an extent, but your theory isn't applicable to Hicks

Although he had a few sets recorded for television, The David Letterman show was the only one to have him on with any regularity, often censoring him to the point his jokes didn't make sense {not due to profanity, but to his outspoken anti-establishment views} and at his last appearance, they cut his entire spot, prompting Bill to go on a tirade against the corporate TV medium. This occurred shortly after Bill had been in Europe performing {Europeans 'got' his humor}, prompting Rolling Stone magazine to declare him "comic of the year," even though most Americans hadn't a clue as to who he was. The point being, the medium of television wasn't the vehicle Hicks' career relied upon - his constant "UFO" touring was: he likened the experience to it due to working numerous small towns in the south. In and out quickly.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

41. Some of us play musical instruments to entertain ourselves.

It can take a lifetime of practice and listening to other people to master an instrument.

Or we cook, or sew, or paint.

Back in the old days, before TV and radio, people usually had a piano in the parlor or living room, and usually a daughter was drafted to learn to play it, and people sang along for entertainment.

[TexasObserver]

42. History channel, Weather channel, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, PBS

TV has many fine educational channels and programs.

[RB TexLa]

44. I was told on DU that one is an elitist if they don't turn their television on every day of the

week.

[Echo In Light]

45. Don't listen to em...the same ones who also lament those "horrible" 60s civil rights movements

There are a lot of old fuckers here who are ideologically not very far removed from repubs ... a lot of young "professional" types too who obviously find fault with many progressive/liberal positions.

[distantearlywarning]

48. I was told on DU that one is not a true progressive

if one dares to spend even 5 minutes of thought about something that isn't "important", ever.

Oh, and one can't simultaneously care about anything in pop culture AND progressive causes at the same time. It has to be one or the other: American Idol or the War in Iraq. Because we're all too stupid to think about two things at once. And God forbid anyone want to have fun or have an escape from the real world for so much as an hour a week - the proper progressive way is to spend every waking moment contemplating everything that is wrong in the entire world and how much everyone else is suffering while the idiots are watching American Idol (but the good news is that you also get to feel self-important and superior for being more enlightened than the unwashed masses).

[KillCapitalism]

46. I still watch my TEE VEE!!!

Yeah I admit it lol. What else am I to do when these heat waves hit & it's too hot to even think about going outside?

Most of what I watch consists of Discovery Channel, Food Network, Nat. Geo., History Channel, Travel Channel, CNN, and the local news.

[cali]

47. I brought up my son without TV at all.

When he was born I lived in a house without electricity. No, it wasn't hard. There were built in gas lamps in all the rooms. I had a gas fridge and stove and a generator that powered a washing machine. We got electricity when he was 2, and unless we bought a satellite dish, we wouldn't have received any reception anyway. We decided to forgo TV. He read a lot, played hard and we rented movies. It was the right decision for us.

[tuggle]

49. I agree children need to get off of TV

Trust me, I teach freshman college students and they could use a little more life experience.

That said, we adults need to break the habit too.

Though I do love the daily show and reno 911 :shrug: