Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 8, 1995 TAG: 9505100018
SECTION: NEWSFUN PAGE: NF-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
- Mackenzie Payne/Second grade Crystal Spring Elementary School
Roanoke
Today, Mackenzie's dad can choose from hundreds of channels, have a screen big enough to make him feel as if he's at the movies in his own family room and tape the shows he may not be home to watch.
Television has become a normal part of our lives. Some kids even spend more time in front of the TV than they do in school. (You can bet they're not the ones who get the best grades, either.)
The average kid watches three hours of TV a day. That means some watch more, some watch less. If you watch for about three hours a day, that's 21 hours (or 1,260 minutes) a week - almost one full day a week of sitting on your you-know-what watching pictures move across a screen.
By the time most students graduate from high school, they've spent more hours watching TV than they've spent in school.
The average kid sees 20,000 commercials every year. That means about 55 every day! And almost all of the toys you buy are because of what you see on TV.
Sure, television is fun for the moment, but, more than likely, you'll have forgotten what the show was about the very next day. Of course, if you have a crush on ``Home Improvement's'' Jonathan Taylor Thomas (sigh!), you'll remember his every word - at least until the next show.
Television isn't all bad. It does have some good educational shows that aren't even boring. But there are more non-educational shows on than ones that teach you something and you'd probably admit that there are a lot of shows you'd even call stupid.
What did people do before there was television and what would they do now without it? A few weeks ago, almost all of the other pupils at Crystal Spring School spent five days finding out.
They voluntarily signed a contract to not watch any TV or not play video games during the first national TV Turnoff Week. They kept journals about what they did instead of sitting in front of ``the idiot box,'' as some people call it.
On Friday night, the kids who made it through the week without any TV went to the school for a victory party. They played games, listened to a storyteller, had snacks - but didn't watch TV.
Lauren Sharpley, in second grade, made a top 10 list of things to do without TV, including write a story, have a friend over, listen to the radio and cuddle with your mom or dad.
Anne McNally, a fourth-grader, worked on her book report and science project and played outside. She also started a club with her friends.
``I think you get more work done when you're not watching TV. You're thinking more,'' she said.
A lot of the kids who participated put red slashes across their TV sets at home, covered them or didn't go into the TV room at all. The TVs in the school's classrooms were all covered, too. The school broadcast original radio programs over the intercom every morning.
In some homes, it was a family event - nobody watched TV. Not at Ashley Clay's house, though.
``I can't live without C-Span,'' her dad, Steve, admitted. But Ashley did her part. ``I came home every day and there was a red towel across the TV with an X across the screen,'' Clay said. ``Sure, I would shut the TV off - if someone offered me enough money!''
Matt Stoecker, in kindergarten, gets up at 6 a.m. every day to watch VR Troopers. He didn't watch the show during Turnoff Week, though, and caught up on his sleep. He slept later and even took a few naps. He went back to watching his favorite shows after the week was over but thinks it's a good idea to shut off the TV sometimes ``so your brain doesn't get mushy.''
``I think TV Turnoff Week is a good idea because it teaches you not to be a couch potato,'' Kathryn Chudina, a third-grader in Mrs. LaScola's class, wrote in her journal.
``Kids have a lot more things to do than watch TV, but they don't know it,'' said fifth-grader Ryan Schlueter, ``so they watch TV.'' He played outside more, but was planning to watch his favorite show, ``The X-Files,'' after the victory party at school.
Some pupils, such as Ginny Crawford (fourth grade) and Jan Steffe (fifth grade) aren't allowed to watch TV on school nights, anyway, so the week wasn't very hard for them. Steffe thought TV should broadcast more learning shows and ``take off the pointless, stupid shows.''
Nathaniel Ries, in second grade, wrote to the head of a local TV station and asked him to display children's artwork during the morning weather report. He also asked for more archaeology and history programs.
Fifth-grader Lee Kreger says he thinks kids should play outside more and watch TV less. ``Sitting in front of the TV can make you fat,'' he said. When asked if he would be willing to shut off the TV for a month, he said, ``Oh, I don't know about that.''
Alisa Perry, in fourth grade, once stopped watching TV for two weeks ``just because I wanted to,'' but she said once she starts watching ``it's hard to get me to stop.''
Lee Burnstein, in the first grade, didn't watch TV all week, but admitted she saw a ``tiny bit'' of it because of her dad. ``He had it on when I kissed him good night,'' she said.
Dad Jim Snead said ``people talk to each other more [when the TV set is off], instead of sitting like zombies in front of the set.'' He'd like to keep the TV off in his house, but doubts his family will agree to it.
``I've heard more complaints from the parents than from the children about missing shows,'' said Cindy Ries, who coordinated the week's activities. At her house, life without TV would have been pretty quiet, except for all the phone calls Ries got because she was the organizer of the event.
``I think we need a turn-off-the-phone week,'' she said.
Now there's an idea for next year.
by CNB