All parents, or soon to be parents, need to read The Plug-In Drug by Marie Winn. It is a book that explains how television is destroying our children and our families.
I have been a professional in the television and radio industry for over 30 years. I work for a company that makes nationally broadcasted programming here in Japan and we often work with the TV Tokyo network, NHK, and nationally broadcasted radio. I also have the experience of being one of the few people who has ever gone to drug rehabilitation and successfully recovered (96% of all drug addicts who enter rehab will return to drug rehab – I have never returned, nor have I needed to – thanks to my wife.)
The Plug-In Drug is a wonderfully insightful book with excellent ideas. The only problem I had with it was a small bit of a seeming compromise by the author on the issue of controlling TV watching time. I think the writer does this because she knows that a "No TV life" is a concept that is too alien in our society today and that the parents would be too adverse to the idea of throwing out the box. Unfortunately, it is the parents who need the TV more than the children. The parents use TV as a babysitter and that, in turn, gets the children hooked. I can tell you from experience that there is no practical solution to trying to control TV watching. The only practical and successful method for controlling TV is to throw the set out. Even though I work in TV, we do not have a TV set in our house.
Imagine a drug addict only doing heroin "just for a few hours a day." It won't work. They will backslide. The only realistic and practical solution is total abstinence and the only way to do this is by eliminating the device.
The TV is actually a drug. But its dangers are even worse than anyone suspects. Married couples think, "Without a TV, my husband and I would have nothing to talk about" (I've heard this many times) but these people have it backwards. Because they have a TV, the couples don't talk about important things and make the effort at spiritual growth (no I'm not talking about religion). The Plug-In Drug should be an advocate for "The TV-Free Family."
People always say that they love their children and that they will do anything for them. But, for the most part, and from what I've seen, it's not true. There is one thing that they will not do for their children: They haven't the courage to throw the TV out.
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FMM Comment: I agree wholehartedly with this article. Trash that $%^& Tube !!!
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