woodson@ucbvax.ARPA (Chas Woodson) (08/16/85)
I think TV watching is one of the greatest problems parents face. I can certainly see how a thoughtful person could refuse to have one. It is so difficult to have the self control to watch only the better programs and avoid the mindless trash. I wish I had the self control to show my kids a perfect example. Yet there are outstanding educational programs. They just cost so much, in time lost to junk. Currently, I and my 10 year old are functioning under the following plan. It seems to be working fairly well. Dad has a VCR in his office at the University. Once a week we go through the schedule. The two of us can choose up to 6 hours of TV, the limit of the tape for the week. Usually we split it in half. She writes out the programming instructions. Dad programs the machine in the office once a week. He brings the tape home Friday night. At home we have a VCR and monitor. Although this VCR is the same model as the one in the office, it is unable to receive TV signals. It can only play back tapes. (This limitation was noticed shortly after it left Dad's lab when it first arrived. For some unexplained reason, he has never got around to trying to "fix" it.) VCR tapes can be watched Friday evening and all day Saturday. The tape for the week can be watched, or tapes from the library of favorites, which includes National Geographic XX and such things. Even the educational programs Dad chooses get watched often. Sunday morning, the VCR goes off for the week, until next Friday evening. It appears to me that her choice of programs is improving. Rarely does she choose real junk. Often they are silly intertainment. Sometimes quality educational programs. Overall, it looks like about half of the watching time is spent on quality programs. I consider that good. And the real junk is missed entirely. I suspect in a few years we will have video disk libraries from which we can make selections. Meanwhile, we almost have control of the TV.