by Candace Williams

Created on: July 19, 2008   Last Updated: September 09, 2008

Television is to brains as candy bars are to bodies. There is some good feeding there but it is packaged in deceptive looking wrappings. It is expensive costing lots of time and money when you consider the time and money it takes to get something worthwhile out of the tv compared to how much good content you actually get. Similarly the candy bar may have two peanuts or one almond and a tiny trace of iron. It could save your life if you were starving to death. It can be used to start a fire if you are stranded and in danger of freezing. But really a steady diet of candy bars is not the ideal way to build a strong healthy body. Neither is a steady diet of tv a good way to build a strong brain.

Curiosity
What is in that box anyway? I think I should just turn the knob and find out. Don't you? That's a lot of what is behind the constant watching which goes on in so many homes night after night and day after day.

When I ask people how much they enjoy the programs they really don't give many upbeat excited answers. But they continue to watch because they are in the habit of turning it on to find out what is on. Then when they find out they leave it on to find out what comes next.

Advertisements
Much of what is watched when television is viewed is advertisements. Some of the ads are for useful products and some are entertaining. Sometimes people I know like the ads better than the programs. But many of the advertisements are for products which the viewers don't want, don't need and don't want or need to hear about over and over and over again.

The other problem with the ads is that some are previews of shows. If you are particular about which shows you want to view you may end up viewing parts of shows you don't want to view in spite of your opinions about what you want to see because they station will flash previews for shows they want you to see over and over and over. I find this a really good reason for not having my children watch television. This doesn't happen on DVDs or videos or on websites. It also doesn't happen in books or if you let your children listen to stories on the radio.

Educational Programs
One of the frequent arguments for allowing or even encouraging children to watch televison is that there are such good educational programs on the television. I agree with this in concept but there are so many interruptions to the educational programs that I prefer educational videos which can be purchased, rented or checked out of the library to enlighten children

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