Quality Family Time? Television is a big part of society today. 98 percent of homes in America contain at least one TV set, and a third of all homes contain two or more television sets. Parents come home after a hard day's work and sit down in front of their TV, in lieu of sitting down with their families. Hour after hour, day after day, this endless cycle of "TV therapy" continues. Kids learn these habits from their parents. In a year, the average child spends 1023 hours in front of a TV-more than the 900 hours they spend in school! `Action-packed fun' or Violence? The content of TV lends itself more and more towards violent shows and movies. Children who watch TV are more likely to be aggressive and commit violent acts. Many TV shows and movies encourage the use of violence to the exclusion of anything else. The heroes exalted after they annihilate the "bad guys". The selective media coverage of murders and catastrophes leads us all to constantly fear that something bad will happen to us. Females who watched more than the average amount of violence tend to throw things at their husbands more often, and men who grew up watching violent TV shows are more likely to be violent with their wives. Obesity & Laziness. Extended periods in front of the television can be detrimental to your health. The time spent vegetating on the couch could be spent exercising or playing sports. While they're watching TV, people tend not to notice how much they shovel down their mouths. Obesity, due to over-eating, affects one third of Canadians. Two hours of TV a day-just four TV shows-are linked to a 23 percent increase in obesity. Attention Span and Reading. The seven-minute segments of TV content condition children to such an extent that the children's attention span drops to seven minutes. Children who watch a lot of TV find it more difficult to read. This is because reading requires children to move their eyes back and forth across the page, as opposed to fixing their eyes on one spot- like when they watch TV. Fuel for Lust. It is impossible to lower one's gaze while watching Television. Channel after channel, program after program, and even during commercial breaks, TV bombards us with indecently dressed men and women and sexual innuendo, if not outright pornographic content. Even seemingly-innocent programs, such as news, have begun to follow this trend. Most television programming does not promote modesty (Haya) in men and women. A study shows that an astounding 55-65 percent of content contains sexual content in word or deed, yet only 10 percent of those make any reference to being faithful to one's life partner. TV Abuse. TV obsession is no joke. Like substance abuse, TV can cause dependency and addiction. You may find yourself channel surfing when you're bored, or watching TV for longer than you intended to. Ironically, watching more TV leads to enjoying TV less, yet many are unable to stop watching or even cut down on viewing hours. Source: "Turn Off TV! Turn on Life!" - Young Muslims Publications. Distribute for free! ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease? Network for Good is THE place to support health awareness efforts! http://us.click.yahoo.com/UwRTUD/UOnJAA/i1hLAA/TXWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of Hidayahnet unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from Hidayahnet, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hidayahnet/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
