Hear the chatter?

In the average American home, the TV is on for 6 hours and 47 minutes ¹. That doesn't seem so bad - a day is 24 hours, right? But then you're at work for 8 of those hours, at lunch for 1, and commuting for another. (Meanwhile, your kids are probably at school and doing various after-school activities for at least 8 hours, so a big chunk of their day is gone, too.)

But let's stick to the adult's schedule: you're spending your time doing work-related things for 10 hours. The TV is on for almost seven hours. That leaves you seven hours to sleep and do it all again the next day!

Hear that chatter? It never shuts up; it never stops. It distracts from the simple pleasures of life. It distracts you from time with your family, time you could be spending getting meaningful projects done, and time you could spend improving your life. But isn't that what it's there for? Distraction?

Why Distract?

There's a myriad of reasons people choose to distract themselves:

• Life is stressful.
• The kids are too loud
• The kids need a break
• The need for "Me Time"
• It's too quiet without the TV on

Utilizing the TV for your distraction offers no balance. Staring glossy-eyed at the screen, not conversating with your family, not utilizing time (your most precious resource) to play with your kids, get outdoors, improve your life and sense of self-worth - where's the balance in that?

Balancing Life

Whatever your hobby is, it, too, serves as a distraction. Pursuing several varied hobbies offers a balanced approach to life and gives you a sense of satisfaction you don't get by knowing how the story goes in 4 different situations which have no actual bearing on your life.

And that's what we at TVFreeLiving want to encourage - a balanced approach to life. We do not recommend that you throw your TV out and completely stop watching. Nor do we recommend that you keep it off 24 hours a day. What we do encourage (and practice) is keeping the chatter to a minimum. The background noise of the TV is no comparison to the background noise of life - the conversation, the playing children, the clatter of pots and pans while the family works together to make dinner. These are the noises of life, and the ones that you'll cherish in the years to come.

Cutting Down the Chatter

Here are some easy tips to minimize the chatter in your own home.

1. Don't turn on the TV just because you're home.
2. When the TV is on, don't have the volume so loud that you cannot hear life going on around you.
3. Limit your use of TV to those programs you really enjoy - channel surfing or watching something "because it's on" is a grand waste of time.
4. If you feel the stress of life getting to you, turn to a relaxing bath, walk, book, or hobby rather than the TV for comfort.
5. Turn off the TV at dinner.

As a family who used to use TV as a near-constant source of entertainment and distraction, we know what this habit is like. Even greater, however, is the experience we've gained from balancing life.

¹ Taken from http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html 01/17/2010

Door to door it was 16 hours. It was me, my four year old son, and 4800 miles of land and ocean to cross

A typical day in the life of a TV-free family: Mommy, Daddy, 4-year old Boy, and family Dog.

The “hazards of TV" article has been done a hundred times before. Books have been written, and statements have been issued, and more books have been written. TV has been accused of everything from ADHD and autism to obesity, violence, and stupidity. The evidence, while not unassailable, is pretty clear that TV isn't good for us, and that the younger one is the truer that is; even if, demonstrably (as is the case with yours truly), one can grow up watching TV – at times far, far too much TV, of all the "wrong" kinds – and still become a functioning, literate adult.

So instead of another fear-mongering iteration of the evidence of the evils of television, let me take a moment to extol the virtues of TV and in doing so show you why my child is, and for the foreseeable future shall remain, TV free.