So, I don’t have children (yet) but I made a pretty big parental decision over the weekend.
My decision was then backed up by The Krusty Sage when he posted some wise words about “sheltering” children.
When we have kids there will only be one tv in the house hooked up to cable and it will be the one in my bedroom. That, of course, is if we decide to have cable at all.
On Thursday night I was flipping through the channels and the tv came to rest on some tacky, inappropriate, reality model show. I was floored by the overt sexuality and the over the top theatrics. I promptly changed the channel and the tv next came to rest on something so much worse!!!
Then Friday morning as I was cleaning the bedroom I was again shocked by what I saw on tv. Most mornings I watch Headline News as I get ready for the day. On Friday though, my wife had been watching/listening to music videos on VH1 while she readied herself for the day. As she left for work, I arose and started my morning routine. When I got out of the shower there were no longer music videos on but a preview for VH1 reality show My Fair Brady. The particular episode featured model Adrianne Curry cavorting around sans clothes for a photo shoot with another unclothed female friend as a birthday present for her husband, Chris Knight. All this before 9am!!!!
What! In! The! World! Is! Going! On!
I don’t mean to sound so naive. I know this stuff is out there and I know that the ratings have never been this high. I am just tired of it. Kids shouldn’t be watching it and maybe we adults shouldn’t be either. We are addicted to tv.
Maybe the only way to break the addiction is to cut the cable all together?
College has been the first time that I’ve 1) had a TV in my room, and 2) had cable. At home, we just had the basic like 10 channels and the only TV was in our living room. I felt deprived as a child, but now I understand my parent’s reasoning. (Gah! That kills me to type those words!)
I think I’m going to stock up on Sesame Street DVDs and buy a 10 DVD changer. I’ll just keep them on a loop. For at least 8 years they will think that the outside world is dominated by colorful, fuzzy monster… and Kermit.