Hey Everybody! Let’s Celebrate Turn Off Your TV Week!

(Note: We understand fully the hypocrisy of running a review of television shows two weeks ago, and running an article on turning off your TV this week. Your letters and snide comments will only make us stronger…)

The only contest I have ever won was at my church’s women’s retreat. I was the only one left with her hand raised after a round of questions. And to what did I owe this honor? Unlike most of the ladies who had watched TV sometime that day, I hadn’t turned one on in over a year. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I had watched TV.

It’s easy to go for a year without watching TV when you don’t have a functioning “idiot box,” as my Dad calls them. And why am I (and my family) such an oddity in a society with more boob tubes than people? Well, I’d rather not constantly barrage myself with images of how I can be sexier, healthier, and more satisfied if I just buy this or that product. I read enough teen magazines to feel bad about myself as it is. I’d also rather connect with my friends and family than share the room and stare at the TV. Bottom line, though, is I just can’t be bothered. I’d rather read a book, go for a walk, talk to my husband or a friend, or listen to NPR.

Unfortunately, this makes me a bit of a pariah among some of my friends, and not because I suck at Trivial Pursuit. When they start to talk about TV I look on, interested, thinking they’re talking about a mutual friend I have yet to meet. It takes me a minute to realize that the people they’re discussing aren’t friends of theirs, but characters on a TV show. Sometimes I think I should start watching TV just so I have something to say. I consider this for a few minutes every other month, but then I come back to reality. Is that really what I want my relationships to be about? I know myself; it’s far too easy to default to a safe, fictional topic than actually get to know people. And far too easy to “zone out” in front of the TV at the end of a hard (hell, any) day.

All the same, recently I’ve been indulging a guilty pleasure for a few hours each week. I blame it on my husband’s best friend, who handed us a DVD of The West Wing.

We’re a little behind the times.

As I watch the first season (which started in the nineties….) on my laptop I am amazed at how captivated I have become. I’m actually disappointed that I don’t have anyone to talk to about my love for Leo’s sad eyes and gruff demeanor or Josh’s Ivy-League-meets-street-hustler swagger. Shock of shockers: I am not immune to the pull of good television. I am invested in whether or not Mendoza gets confirmed, Zoe gets shot by a neo-Nazi, and whether CJ gets together with Danny. And speaking of romance, what’s going on between Josh and Donna anyway? Oh, if only someone cared.

Alas, I now count myself among those who are addicted to a show, but without the social boost of discussing it with my friends. Because yes, it can be fun to conjecture about what’s going to happen next, or to discuss the personality quirks of my favorite characters. For about five minutes.

Even though I’m a little more understanding of TV-watching now that I’ve been sucked into the vortex of making legislation on Capitol Hill, I still think the amount of TV that the average American watches is ridiculous, if not criminal, especially when it comes to kids.

You might be surprised to learn that the average household has 2.73 TVs, with fifty percent of Americans own more than three. So – what’s the big deal? Well, research shows that for every hour a child spends watching TV per day, their risk of developing attention-related problems increases by ten percent. A child who watches three hours of TV is thirty percent more likely to develop ADD (D. Christakis, Pediatrics, April 2004). Unsurprisingly, TV-watching is also correlated with being overweight: in a study of preschoolers (aged 1 – 4), a child’s risk increased by six percent for every hour watched (Dennison, et al. 2002). Not a problem for you or your kids, you say? Well, it is for someone on your block. Twenty five percent of preschoolers have a TV in their room, which increases their watching by 4.8 hours per week (Kaiser Family Foundation and the Children’s Digital Media Centers, 2003). All of this means that over the course of a year, children spend more time watching TV than they spend in school or participating in any other activity except sleep. And unfortunately, all of this TV isn’t just Mr. Rogers or Barney. The average American child will have watched 100,000 acts of televised violence, including 8,000 murders, by the time he or she finishes the sixth grade.

Shocking? Well, it’s not hard to understand these astronomical numbers when you look at the rate of TV-watching for adults. The average American household has the TV on for well over eight hours per day. Much of this is “background noise,” as the average American watches 4 hours and 35 minutes each day. (Screen-Time Fact Sheet of the Turnoff Week 2007 Organizer’s Kit, www.screentime.org)

Four hours and thirty-five minutes each day. Does that actually leave time for anything else? No wonder we feel like we have no time with our family and friends.

Now, I may be addicted to The West Wing, in that I’d often rather watch the show – living vicariously through the characters and wishing for a President whose values and ideals I admire – than do the dishes, write thank you notes, or come up with another fun activity to pass the evening. But I don’t let it get in the way of spending time with my husband and baby, talking with my sister or other friends about meaningful things, cultivating good habits, volunteering, getting to know my neighbors, and being an informed, active citizen.

Because I like my life and think that I am right – since I am much happier watching little to no TV, you would be as well – I’m sending out the challenge to turn off the TV in honor of Turnoff the TV Week (April 23rd – 29th). Funny thing is, I’m a little behind again. Though we’re a week late, I still think you’ll discover that you like what you’ve been missing as much - if not more- than you like sitting in front of the boob tube.

Here are a few ideas on how to pass the time sans-television:

- Get outdoors! Take a walk, ride a bike, skip around the block. Take out your sidewalk chalk and play hop-scotch. Invite your neighbors to do the same. It’s amazing how just being outside can lead to relationships with those we live around.

- Listen to the news, or read the newspaper. Research both sides of an issue and discuss it around the dinner table, over coffee or a beer.

- Have dinner with your family or friends. Talk about what you’ve been thinking about, reading about, or hearing about. Ask open-ended questions. Listen.

- Spend time on a hobby. Make a model car. Sew a dress. Read a book by yourself or to someone else. Work in your yard. Learn how to do something new.

- Volunteer at a local shelter, school, or other program. Get to know the people you are serving. Go back next week and show them you care by remembering their names.

- Go see a recital or a play.

- Find out something your partner, friend, or family member really wants to do. Treat them to a special night or afternoon out. Babysit your friends’ kids so they can do the same.

- Study a passage of Scripture, a book of the Bible, or an issue you’ve really been wondering about but haven’t had the time to look into.

Don’t see anything interesting? What would you add to this list? Please use the space below to offer your own ideas, or to discuss how you feel about the American obsession with TV.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy a week without TV, or maybe a day, or even a few hours. You don’t need to be as extreme as those of us who proudly sport our KILL YOUR TELEVISION bumper-stickers to receive the benefits of a break. If you find yourself converted, let me know and we’ll take the advice of my friend Lisa and next year we’ll celebrate National TV Defenestration Week!

Enjoy!