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Should parents raise their children without television?

"If students aren't taught the language of sound and images, shouldn't they be considered as illiterate as if they left college without being able to read or write?"-George Lucas

I'm no fan of television, in general, but I don't think parents should raise their kids without it. However, nor do I think parents should set the scene for television to raise their kids. Like anything, television can be used or abused.

Children get something from television. However, a child who sits in front of the television for hours every day lacks something else in his or her life. That something might be a parental relationship or other personal relationships such as with friends or mentors.

People watch television to experience, in a manner, what they do not experience in their lives. They may watch television in order to escape feelings of disappointment or despair. Children who lack attached relationships with parents or others may form attachment to television characters instead.

On the other hand, television can provide intellectual stimulation in the form of information and vicarious mystery solving and adventure. School children, and adults alike, may benefit from some stimulation via the television to discharge energy, in a manner, stored after a day of sitting behind a desk.

Parents who worry about exposing their children to adult-erated content on television would do well to watch with the children in order to discuss or avoid offending content. Otherwise, technology exists with which to censor what children view. VCRs, DVD players, and TiVo DVRs allow viewers to choose what to watch. Parental control settings on televisions and digital services, cable and satellite, also provide methods of censoring what children view.

Video playing and recording tools, such as VCRs and DVD players, allow children to repeat shows or movies, and thus to enrich the learning they do while watching the programs. Repetition provides children with the opportunity to catch more of what was presented and to think more deeply about a subject or experience.

Offensive or dangerous content on television is not inherent in the technology. It's a symptom of a sick culture, a culture that lacks something. That something might be authentic relationships among members, with needs adequately met between parents and children and among individuals in friendships and mentorships. Media reflects the culture that produces it. If we don't like what we see on television, we would do well to look around at the culture within which we live.

Learn more about this author, Sara Mcgrath.
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