Tracy Smith quipped, "I wanted to make it really special on Valentine'sDay, so I tied my boyfriend up. And for three solid hoursI watched whatever I wanted on TV." Of course we laugh, but do youknow that one of the major sources of friction identified by couplesis conflict over which television channels to watch?
For years now, watching television has become our universal pastime.We wake up to TV, hurry home so as not to miss our special programs,eat meals around the set and go to bed after our favorite nightly newsor comedy show. Television is the babysitter of choice of countlesshouseholds.
Not that television is bad. Like other forms of communication,including radio and the Internet, it can be both helpful andharmful -- depending on how it is used. And how often. It has beenestimated that averageAmericans will spend eight years of theirlives watching television. Laurence J. Peter sums up one of thegreatest problems of excessive TV viewing among children:"Television," he says, "has changed a child from an irresistible forceto an immovable object."
Katherine Coroso Jackson, mother of pop star Michael Jackson,explained this about her son: "It all really started when Michael wasthree or four years old. The TV broke and the kids started dancing andsinging to entertain themselves. I convinced their father they weregood, and after he listened to them, he agreed with me." The TV brokeand, well, you know the rest of the story.
If your TV broke, what might get fixed? Or, put another way, if youturned your television OFF today, what might get turned ON? Aninterest in a project you've wanted to begin? An new way of relatingto those you live with? Community or public service? New friendshipsor adventures?
The Jackson children changed from immovable objects to an irresistibleforce the day their TV broke. WHAT might get turned on in you the dayyour TV is turned off? Want to find out?
