When we moved from Apopka to Winter Park, Florida, a little over a year ago, we made a lot of changes. Our decision to move was based on a desire to allow our youngest son to play in the Winter Park High School orchestra, and we had to make a lot of sacrifices to do it. One of those sacrifices was to refrain from installing cable TV. Since we also didn't have an antenna, we would be without television.
I don't miss it. I hardly ever missed it at all. There were times when I wanted to watch a sporting event, but those desires weren't as strong as I thought they might be. Sporting events come and go, and the world doesn't change just because I missed viewing them. Now my sports energies are devoted to working out with two of my sons, and we have a great time. Participation with those I love beats vegging out in front of a tube any day.
I do feel out of touch with our culture at times. I have never seen "American Idol" or "Survivor," and since people talk about these shows as if they were somehow important, I am definitely on the outside looking in. But I kind of like it that way. I get an interesting perspective on what people value. It's not always attractive, but it's a good education.
There is some value in viewing programmed entertainment. Some movies portray powerful images that represent serious issues that families can discuss. That's why we rent movies from time to time. But since these are planned, family times together, they become organized activities that promote discussion and togetherness rather than the habitual viewing that tends to waste time.
"No television" is working for us. My children don't seem to mind at all. And the best benefit is that we actually talk to each other in the evenings. That might be my favorite sport of all!
6 comments:
I've never seen American Idol or Survivor either, and I'm in the target age group.
I've soured on prime time television overall. I watched sitcoms like Full House and Family Matters, but stuff like that is gone now. I also watched several Star Trek series up until Voyager, when it nearly burned me out on the franchise. Most of my favorite sci-fi shows are gone as well. TV is too hyped up on reality shows, which holds no appeal to me whatsoever.
It looks kind of empty here. It's sad, because so far I'm reading the third book and I loved all three of them. A friend of mine told me about your series and I couldn't wait to check it out. What intrigued me was that he said that there was a character similar to mine. (I write little stories to pass the time in notebooks. She's half dragon, similar to Bonnie, and is catholic. I thought that was too awesome to pass up ^_^)
As I started reading the first book I learned about the characters and compared them to my daily life. My friend lacks faith, and I'm doing my best to keep him on the road to God's love and it's hard, but I know I musn't give up. I know how it is to feel alone and disliked at school, heck, I'm the only kid in my grade and up that hasn't cussed in my entire life (okay, maybe when I was little, but I didn't understand what they meant than and when I said them I got a good old fashioned spanking.)
I really love the series. Action, adventure, dragons, Jesus. What more can a 16 year old that's infatuated with all of those above want? I love the development of the characters as the series progresses. I can already see Billy's faith growing, yet the separation of him and his father seems hard to bare.
Well, I'm sorry for droning on and on about crud like this, but it's nice to talk to an author that shares a love of dragons and God. I hope I can read more in this journal and I'll pray for you and all of your family and friends.
P.S. Regular TV stinks. lol. I only watch American Idol and Saturday morning cartoons. X_X Too much ucky and immoral stuff on the tube to enjoy it anymore...
Hopefully your new friend and fellow dragon(Half dragon, same diff ^.=.^)
-Amanda Gretzinger
G.O., I know what you mean. But I've never seen Full House or Family Matters either. I'm way out of the loop!
Amanda,
Thank you for the positive statements about my books. I'm glad to hear you're relating so well to the stories.
Feel free to post more comments. I hope to fill up my blog a little more.
They were fun, clean shows. Of course today sitcoms are so obsessed with sex that I've checked out. They don't even have "dumb fun" shows like Hercules anymore, it's just reality shows and gore-ladden crime dramas.
But there's still Wheel of Fortune!
We have no TV either, and haven't ever. Well, we did use to have two fuzzy channels which we used for the superbowl, national emergencies like 9/11 and presidential election results. But that was in California. Then when we lived in France, we had no reception at all, and likewise here in the UK. We just watch rented DVDs when we want to (sent by mail). We have way too many other things to do to have our time dictated by TV schedulers. Books, conversation, walks, bike rides, games, blogs, projects, dancing, correspondence, etc. Yay for TV-free households. My kids will be thrilled when I give them your most recently published book for Christmas.
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