Is TV Helping or Hurting Our Lives?

When I was a child, there was not much TV to watch.  Only a few cartoons and kids shows like Howdy Doody and Mickey Mouse Club.  I would have rather played outside with my friends or played with toys and games.  Even my parents only watched things like the news or a variety show like Ed Sullivan.  My parents didn't have to worry about TV dulling my brain or my creativity.  The movies I went to see where wholesome and uplifting.

Today is very different.  There are a lot of enticing programs and movies to get us and our children's attention.  There is so much offensive material such as bad language and immorality being displayed as normal behavior.  Sitcoms are the worst.  Our kids don't have a chance.  Our senses become immune to what is right and wrong.   "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil." - Is. 5:20.

Promiscuity is all over TV and movies.  Every show has some kind of sexual content or language.  Homosexuality is portrayed as a normal life style.  That is not what God intended.  "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for degrading of their bodies with one another.  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie." - Rom. 1:4-25.  "God gave them over to shameful lusts.  Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.  In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.  Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion." - Rom. 1:26-27.

Our children are led to believe that being a virgin is a bad thing and sex before marriage is the norm.  Adults are also led to that belief.  Every show that has a man and a woman going on a "date" shows the next scene of them jumping in bed together as if that were the normal progression instead of waiting for marriage.  The one night stands seem to be popular these days - or living together before marriage.  I don't think that is what God had in mind. 

 

Even TV commercials are suggestive and pollute our minds.  Not only are TV and movies to blame, but so are video games, magazines, billboards, and song lyrics.  Watching such sexually polluting images will stay in our minds.  It will always be there.  Sexual pollution is powerful.  The enemy will keep those images flashing back which gives him a stronghold in our lives if we let him. 

Be selective as to what you and your children watch.  Do whatever is necessary to avoid anything that is a temptation.  We can ask God to keep us strong and to not give into the desires these images can produce.  Ask God to help you and your children not be drawn into sexual pollution, but to turn away.  You can change the channel, walk out of the theater, throw those magazines away, turn off the radio, turn off the Internet site, and don't buy that CD or video game.  Find a good book to read.  Better yet, how about opening your Bible and read God's Word.

"A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself; the simple pass on and are punished." - Prov. 27:12.

"For everything in the world - the craving of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world." - 1 John 2:16.

Watching TV steals time from our children for activities that actually develop their brains.  They need to interact with other people and playing.  It takes time away that they need to develop important skills like language and social skills.  It takes time away from reading and improving reading skills.  Experts say kids who watch entertainment TV are less likely to read books.  It causes them to have trouble paying attention and have shorter attention spans.  Experts also say the kids who watch 3 hours of TV, videos, or DVDs a day had a higher chance of conduct problems and relationship problems by age 7 than those who did not.  It can cause them to become insensitive to violence and cause aggressive and violent behavior.

TV exposes kids to negative influences and promotes negative behavior.  It shows violence, alcohol, drug use and sex in a positive light.  It teaches them that violence is a way to solve conflict.  When kids watch too much TV, they tend to snack on junk food and are influenced by commercial to eat unhealthy food.  Watching TV affects our kids health and athletic ability.  They can become obese and less fit since they aren't running, jumping and doing activities that burn calories and increase metabolism.

TV is not all bad.  There are good educational programs that educate, inform and inspire.  Studies show that kids who watch educational and non-violent shows do better on reading and math tests than those who do not watch these programs. 

So instead of letting your child watch TV, get him in a reading habit by reading to him.  You can invite a friend over for a play date.  Do a puzzle with your child. If you need some more suggestion for activities to do instead of watching TV?  Check out this website for 100 Things to Do Instead of Watching TV - http://slapdashmom.com/100-things-to-do-instead-of-watching-tv/

Set an example for your children.  Turn off the TV and get a hobby, do landscaping, workout, or play a sport.  Here is a website with some more suggestions: http://voices.yahoo.com/addiction-television-25-things-instead-of-282377.html?cat=9