Raising Drones

So, Kat Coble brings up

There’s a new PAY channel debuting. Baby TV. Round the clock videos for infants and toddlers.
A 2003 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 68 percent of children under 2 watch TV or videos daily and 26 percent have a TV in their bedroom.

For a short time before my second pregnancy I had a small cooking and cleaning business. I saw many homes packed to the gills with televisions. One house stood out in my mind, as they had a very small child. I counted six TVs throughout the house, including the child’s room and the play room.

I hate this on so many levels. I firmly believe that children who are spoonfed entertainment will grow up lacking in some manner. When children passively ingest a flow of information there isn’t a chance for them to discover or pursue interests of their own. Television trains your body and mind to experience life in a passive state. Am I saying my overuse of the Internet is any better? No.

I believe shows may be educational, but reading to a child is far more beneficial. I don’t like that they watch TV in the nursery at the Y. Thankfully, they don’t use it every morning and most days I finish exercising to see my son coloring or involved in play. When I see him staring open-mouthed at Sesame Street it bothers me.

I have a feeling early television exposure probably helps mold individuals into quiet, passive citizens. “What Tax Hike? Can I still afford cable? Good, I’m Tivoing American Idol.”

I wish I were more eloquent. I’d elaborate on how I hate that televison shows raise expectations of what life should be. How beautiful women in their late twenties portray high schoolers and kill the esteem of awkward girls in their teens. I think so many young people fail to understand that TV is fiction. A person doesn’t graduate college and have everything their parents did and more. I have a feeling television adds fuel to the consumerism fire that is sweeping the nation.

We’ve opted out of the game. It has done wonders for my own case of “the gimmies.”