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Promise not to write me off as crazy before you read on. I was raised in a home without television....and I am not old, and my parents are not weird or Amish or anything like that.

For multiple reasons, my affluent, (and very cool) parents decided we would not have a television in our home. (Now I will admit, Dad did keep one up in the attic in case there was a national emergency and we needed to see what was happening, but it was not plugged in or attached to an antennae.) My parents were both raised in homes with Television sets, but when they had the 4 of us children, they began to reevaluate what a home life should look like. (You notice all the shows on TV rarely show families actually watching TV.)

They decided that a healthy home life requires interaction, communication, chores, outdoor activity, some family discussions, a few games of monopoly, ...I could go on. The point is, though television is not bad in and of itself, free 24 hour entertainment in the living room of a home is almost impossible to resist. News and weather reports are always available on the radio. Entertainment with moral or interactive value is easily found when there is no television around to compete for our attention. And there is something else that develops...a keen awareness of what we put in front of our eyes.

Medical research supports that every word we hear, every sight we take in, actually enters our brain and lodges itself in our physical memory. We may not think we are listening or that what we see will affect us, but for better or worse, we have already taken it in and let it become a part of who we are.

My parents chose to demonstrate wisdom and sacrifice. They taught us about self denial, family communication, and integrity. Without a television to tell me what we had to have, I grew up without the need for Barbie dolls and the latest Nike tennis shoes, no Strawberry Shortcake bedroom ensemble or desire to dress like Daisy Duke when I grew up. Now, as an adult, going without television hasn't made me a better person. It has made me conscious of what I watch and aware of the shallow life it portrays.

Today, in my apartment, a television sits in the center of the room. Continually, I fight the urge to waste another evening being a voyeur into the fictitious, hilarious world it promises to give me. When I do turn it on, I can avoid dealing with the awfulness of life. I can deny my mind the worries and cares of the day, and issues needing decisions, and friends needing called, and journal entries needing written. It keeps me from feeling lonely. It offers fashions and trends I should try to keep up with. It's all foolishness! My parent's decision to go without has profoundly affected me.

There is no reason we all should throw out our televisions, or forbid ourselves from watching. I just think the attic is a great place for them to be stored. I am committed to remembering all of this when I have my own home and children one day. Life is just too short to waste on trivial entertainment.

Learn more about this author, Tennessee Grace.
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