The romantic notion of turning off the TV

STEVE SMITH

First, thank you to all who expressed concern about my car. To

summarize, our family had a major mechanical challenge while on the

road to Lake Tahoe last week. The problem was solved by a mechanic in

Reno, Steve Tout, who provided very fast service and got us back on

schedule.

But something is still wrong and I’ve decided not to spend another

dime figuring out what it is. The car has 120,000 miles and it’s time

to get something else.

On the road, there’s a lot of time to think. And it occurred to me

that I have something in common with the supporters of the El Toro

airport. That is, they have no hope of ever seeing an airport built

down there but they cling to the romantic notion that it’s still

alive. If only that same passion could be directed toward something

useful, such as the fight to have Starbucks include those cardboard

sleeves with each cup of coffee instead of forcing us to ask for

them.

I mean, that coffee is so hot, you can boil an egg in the cup. Not

having a sleeve is far to macho a move for me and just about everyone

else I’ve seen.

What I have in common is that I’m still clinging to the romantic

notion that parents in the U.S. will realize that the best thing they

can do for their children’s education and physical and mental

development is to turn off the TV. But no one is listening and still

I go on.

I’m still pushing the TV-free life because every time I consider

giving it up, some major agency or association -- from pediatrician

groups to the American Psychological Assn. -- produces a report

detailing just how bad TV is for kids. While we were away, it was

announced that television for kids younger than the age of 7 could

reduce their attention span. I’m sorry that we had to spend time and

money to figure out this no-brainer but glad that it’s now official.

Again.

While in Reno, I read a story about the upcoming school budget

crisis in California and received an e-mail a few days ago on the

same subject. Seems as though districts are canceling arts, sports

and music programs right and left in order to save money. Plus,

school class sizes are scheduled to rise.

I don’t believe the school budget crisis is going to go away soon.

So it only seems logical to embrace at this time the words of the

renowned theorist, professor Irwin Corey, who was the first to say,

“Less is more.”

For now, less in schools will have to be more. One way to make

less more -- heads up here, teachers -- is to start a no-TV policy.

Properly executed, a classroom of 38 kids who do not watch TV could

become as manageable as a classroom of 30. That’s because their

attention spans will increase, and they will not be receiving daily

examples of how not to conduct our lives. Nor will they be bombarded

with ads that manipulate them into thinking that a new pair of a

certain type of shoes is going to change their lives. They’ll begin

to understand that only a good education will do that.

The news about TV’s effects on kids is so overwhelmingly bad and

there is so much of it that I’m ready to get radical on the project.

I’m ready to start pushing for penalties for parents of kids younger

than 7 who let them watch TV. Seems to me that enough experts have

declared it bad enough that TV viewing for these kids should fall

into some form of child abuse or child endangerment.

See, this is where I converge with the El Toro folks. No chance of

a “TV child abuse” act ever happening. But I’m still talking about

it.

The fact is that our district needs to get on this bandwagon. Save

for one resolution endorsing National No-TV Week a few years ago and

for some individual teacher classroom efforts, there has been no

district move toward the idea.

And the really good news is that such a program would cost little

or no money.

For me, this is the road more traveled, having written about the

joy of a no-TV life and spoken about it all over Southern California

for many years. What I have found is that it’s not the kids who can’t

live without TV, it’s their parents. And since a no-TV home doesn’t

work unless everyone participates, there will be no program in the

district or in homes. Parents don’t want to give it up.

I don’t really want to hear grousing about rising gas prices

either, particularly from anyone driving a gas-guzzling SUV. I’ve

done the math and for someone driving 12,000 miles a year, the

increase in gas could be more than offset by cutting off the cable TV

service.

But that’s about as likely happen as getting an airport at El Toro

or sleeves back on the Starbucks cups.

There’s still time. National No-TV Week starts Monday. Try it --

you’ll like it.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(949) 642-6086.