Testing Our TV Dependence -- Bulletin Article 04.22.07

Last year, we highlighted an event sponsored by the TV Turnoff Network: National TV-Turnoff Week. This year, that national week of awareness begins tomorrow (Monday, April 23rd). I was greatly encouraged by those of you who went the entire week last year without turning on your TV; that is a remarkable feat!

As we think about this year’s TV Turnoff week, use this as an opportunity to talk about your TV dependence with your family. As a family, talk about how much to watch, when to watch, what to watch. Brainstorm about activities you can do as a family to replace TV watching. Determine the best plan of action for your family and commit to following it the next week; it may even be helpful to have your children draw up a pledge or contract and have the whole family sign it agreeing to the terms. We all could benefit from a purposeful examination of the role TV plays in our lives.

I often check a financial blog called The Simple Dollar. It offers advice and links to a variety of personal-finance related issues. Back on April 9th, they ran a post titled, “Ten Financial Reasons To Turn Off Your Television - And Ten Things To Replace It With.” The author makes several interesting points about how our TV habits affect our pocketbooks and our personal lives. I’ve consolidated and omitted some of the points, and have added some spiritual reflections to each below:

· Bill & electricity costs. The author’s monthly cable costs ($60) plus electricity for two TVs cost his family a little under $800 a year. I’m not necessarily calling for all of us to ditch our service and sell our TVs, but ponder this thought: what could we do with an additional $800 a year? Could we: Pay down some debts? Give more to the Lord? Invest for our futures? Seeing the big picture of how much our habit costs us may help us make wiser financial and spiritual decisions.

· The commercial factor. The third reason on the original list is the guilt that often results from seeing perceived “perfect” situations and people as portrayed by the media. The fourth reason is directly related: commercials give us the opportunity (by buying certain products, services, etc.) to make our lives more like the ones we see on TV. Occasional viewing may not lend itself to these vulnerabilities, but continual (and addictive) viewing could cause negative reactions. We are all special and beautiful in the eyes of God. He should be the source of our healthy self-esteem (Ps. 139:13-16). We need to be careful not to allow worldly influences diminish what is otherwise wonderful.

· Poorer dining and health habits. Imagine the differences if we ate healthier and cheaper home-prepared food instead of grabbing fast food and chowing down in front of the TV. Dependence upon TV makes us more likely to make adverse choices. We all would do well to make thoughtful choices about what is best for our families instead of what our entertainment-driven instincts lead us to do.

· Less quality family time. There are many factors leading to the decay of the home in America. One of these is arguably the family’s dependence on TV. Husbands and wives could be more intimate; parents and children could communicate more openly; all could benefit from being emotionally present more often. Even though we may view TV programming together, we are emotionally invested in what we are watching instead of the presence of one another. Reassessing our TV dependence could go a long way in fixing our families.

Again, I am not calling for extremist actions like cutting cable altogether or destroying our TV sets. However, I think we owe it to the Lord, to ourselves, and to our families to honestly evaluate what’s most important in our lives. If the answer is not what it should be, there is no better time to begin fixing things than this week.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33