Freelance Content Marketing Writer and Editor
It’s been an unexpectedly busy week around here. That means I haven’t had much time for blogging … but we did find some time to escape to a peaceful spot next to a stream this afternoon. It’s in our neighborhood, just a few blocks from our house. But something about the sound of the water and the sunlight slicing through the tree branches makes it feel like a much more exotic get-away. It was exactly what we needed.
I hope you found a place to escape this week as well.
It’s TV Turnoff Week, or as Adbusters calls it Digital Detox Week. You can learn more about it here. The idea is to take a break from the television, computers, and digital gadgets that have become such a huge part of most of our lives and see what we might be missing out on, like spring flowers, for instance.
“The goal is not to dwell on the pitfalls of our electronic devices but to reflect on ourselves. And who knows, if the magic begins to creep back into your life, the digital detox may never end.” – Adbusters
I abstained from all screens for the entire week last spring, and I had a great time. I completely recommend it. At the end I felt relaxed and recharged, and it helped me strike a better balance with online time and family time – at least for awhile.
Unfortunately this year, I can’t afford to power down for an entire week, because that would mean, um, not working. But I have family coming for a visit soon, and I plan on taking my own little digital vacation then, since I’ll be taking some time off from working and blogging anyway.
If you’re thinking of celebrating TV Turnoff Week and on the lookout for some non-digital activities for the week, check out the links under “Homegrown Entertainment” over there on your right.
Last April I reviewed Living Outside the Box: TV-Free Families Share Their Secrets by Barbara Brock (2007). I thought you may enjoy the review if you missed it:
The statistics about television-watching in America should concern everyone:
What does this mean for America’s kids? The average child spends 1500 hours a year watching TV, as compared to 900 hours in school, and sees on that flickering screen:
It’s hard to imagine that all this TV isn’t having detrimental effects on Americans, especially children. And sure enough, anecdotal evidence suggests that too much TV contributes to all kinds of behavioral problems at home and in school. Kids have attention problems. They fight with each other over TV programs. They beg for brand-name products. They grapple with weight issues and obesity. They don’t play outside in nature. They don’t read.
When we turn on the tube, do we turn off life?
In Living Outside the Box, Barbara Brock mentions the personal and cultural ills TV undoubtedly contributes to, but it’s not her focus. Instead she asks us to ponder what we miss out on when we’re sitting and mindlessly observing so much of our lives away. After all we could be reading, writing, painting, crafting, traveling, cooking, baking, hanging out with friends, playing instruments, singing, gardening, exploring, running, walking, or just playing. We could actually be living.
A very small minority of Americans (less than 1%) lives TV-free. Brock sent 500 of them surveys to find out about them. Who are these rebels? Well, they vary widely, but the striking thing is, most don’t miss TV at all. More surprising, their kids don’t seem to miss it. Brock’s research makes you wonder – are kids more addicted to the television, or are their parents? Even if you can’t seem to drag your kids away from the tube, you might be surprised at their reactions if you shut it off altogether. Of kids who pledged to ditch TV for three months, many reported it as the best time in their lives.
TV night: Relaxing or stressful?
Brock makes a lot of cogent points, but one most registers with me: she points out how watching TV, even in small amounts, structures our time. For instance, you don’t want to miss a favorite program so you rush home from a night out, or you race through dinner, or you hurry through a phone call with a friend. You always have one eye on the clock.
Sure enough, we have a TV night in our house, and it’s always more stressful than other nights. We rush around to get everything done before the shows come on. Usually our evenings just sort of unfold. We turn on music, we talk, we play with the baby, we clean, we play games together, or we read. We glance at the clock occasionally, but it doesn’t dominate our nights. I feel better on these TV-free nights. I sleep better. But I’m not sure it’s the TV that makes me feel stressed, or just watching the clock.
The computer counts too.
I was surprised that by Brock’s definition, my family is already TV-free. Brock considers anything under six hours a week TV-free, and we watch about two to four hours. But every time I wanted to feel smug about my TV-free ways, Brock slipped in a mention of computer time. Oh yeah, that. I know aimless Googling and Facebooking doesn’t make me happy, but I find myself clicking away at the mouse a little too often.
Searching for balance.
Living Outside the Box is a fast and easy-to-read book. It will undoubtedly make you ponder how entrenched TV is in our lives and what kind of impact it’s collectively having on our society. Could Brock’s arguments convince a die-hard TV addict to change her ways? I doubt it. And if you lean toward the TV-free life already (which I suspect most people who read the book do) you may feel a tad hopeless reflecting on how entrenched television is in most people’s lives – a little like a teetotaler stuck in a tavern. After all, it doesn’t matter if you’re hellbent on knowing all your neighbors better than the cast of Survivor unless your neighbors feel the same way. However, if you’re thinking about ditching the TV, and concerned that it might turn your kids into social deviants, Brock’s research might ease your mind.
I picked up Living Outside the Box because my baby’s getting to the age where the television sucks him in. When he gazes at it and his eyes start to glaze over, my instinct is to shut it off – for good. It’s not that I think TV will destroy him or make him into a zombie. After all, I watched my share of I Love Lucy marathons as a kid. I just want his childhood to be full of music, books, friends, and nature. I want his time to be unstructured and unhurried. I want him to be satisfied with all of the comforts and joy we have in our lives, not to be constantly told he needs more toys, cereal, clothes, or candy to feel good. Most of all, I want him to have a real life, not a childhood spent observing fictional kids on television living.
But I’m just not convinced we should put the TV out with the garbage. One of those four hours of TV we usually watch each week is The Bill Moyer’s Journal on PBS, and every time I start thinking of TV as evil, I see Moyer’s lopsided grin. That show, and a few others – like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Six Feet Under, and Freaks and Geeks – have added something to my life. They’ve make me think, or laugh so hard I can’t breathe, or see the world a little bit differently. They’ve made me happy. I know the real answer is to only invite in the television programs that stimulate my family. But what a challenge that is – especially with kids.
What do you think?
I’d love to hear how TV fits into your life. Do you have TV-free or TV-addicted kids? Have you struck some kind of balance? Are you participating in TV Turn-Off Week? Why or why not?
I’ve been reading photography books lately, learning about aperture, shutter speed, film speed, and light meter.
One of the books recommends that I snap photos of a particular color each day. So I walk down our block in the mornings with my camera as my son toddles along beside me squealing about everything he sees. “Bike,” he calls every time a bicyclist passes. “Purple floof” he says as we stop to photograph a flower. “Doggy, doggy, doggy,” he shouts as my neighbor’s dog runs toward us. And I watch for the way the sunlight hits flower petals.
It feels like we’re both learning to look at the world differently. He’s cataloging names, words, and descriptions. And I’m learning to see swirls, swaths, and splotches of reds and yellows and blues.
It’s spring – what better time to study color? It’s popping out of the landscape everywhere I look … like purple.
This post is for Steady Mom’s 30 Minute Blog Challenge.
Last week, I told you the story of our rainy days in the color red. Well, the sun finally came out. It feels only fitting to tell you about it in the color yellow.
I hope the sun’s shining wherever you are too.
Remember how last month I was bragging about all of our nice weather and our early spring blossoms. Well, this week we’re getting torrents of rain to make up for it. Our backyard looks like a wading pool.
Honestly, I’m not complaining. I was feeling rather overwhelmed with garden and house projects, so the return of winter, with its slower pace and excuses to bake bread and curl up and read books is just what I needed. Of course, my son has other ideas about how we should spend these rainy days.
Here’s the story of our last few days, told in the color red…
And did I mention this? There’s been a whole lot of this going on:
This post is for Steady Mom’s Thirty Minute Blog Challenge.
Hush little baby, don’t say a word
Mama’s going to buy you a mockingbird.
If that mockingbird don’t sing,
Mama’s going to buy you a diamond ring.
If that diamond ring turns to brass,
Mama’s going to buy you a looking glass….
I’ve always loved the lullaby Hush Little Baby because my mom sang it to me when I was little. Growing up, I never thought much about the lyrics. And later when I did, they seemed a bit strange.
I’ll be honest, though. Back in college, I decided I wouldn’t sport a diamond on my own finger after I learned about the diamond trade in Sierra Leone. But I may have trudged to the jewelry store to procure one for my son during those early sleep-weary months of parenting if I thought it would buy me some uninterrupted nights of sleep.
Alas, all I had on those fateful nights was a sling, a rocking chair, and a lullaby. And Hush Little Baby was my life raft for a few months there. The instant my son heard it, he’d grow quiet and stare at me with saucer eyes. Maybe he was plotting where he’d put his billy goat and horse and cart?
Recently, I came across Sylvia Long’s board book adaptation of Hush Little Baby, which is what made me think about the lyrics of the original. In the afterward of Long’s version, she writes:
One of the songs that has bothered me as an adult is the original version of “Hush Little Baby.” In it, a mama offers her baby comfort by promising to buy him or her all sorts of things (a mockingbird, a diamond ring, horse and cart, etc.). It seems much healthier to encourage children to find comfort in the natural things around them and the warmth of a mother’s love.”
Long wrote her own version of Hush Little Baby and paired it with her beautiful art. It starts:
Hush little baby, don’t say a word,
Mama’s going to show you a hummingbird.
If that hummingbird should fly,
Mama’s going to show you the evening sky.
When the nighttime shadows fall,
Mama’s going to hear the crickets call.
While their song drifts from afar,
Mama’s going to search for a shooting star.
I’ll always have a fondness for the original, but Long’s version is so much better.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Tired of bribing your baby with a diamond ring? Sing this lullaby instead. #infants #parenting” quote=”Tired of bribing your baby with a diamond ring? Sing this lullaby instead.” theme=”style1″]
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