5 Things You Can Do to Promote Things Better than TV Yes, we know, not all TV is bad. There's the Learning Channel and Discovery Channel, for instance. Great! That just leaves about 90 to 95 percent of programming which qualifies more or less as trash.
Don't believe us? Check out some statistics and if you've got kids or younger brothers or sisters, just watch how they become like Zombies in the face of this glowing box of charms. So, if you are convinced of the dangers of television, here are some things you can do to convince family, friends and your local Muslim community to do the same. 1. Stop yourself No anti-TV campaign will work if it's focused on others but not yourself. Make sure you aren't watching TV or that you are at least trying to cut back. Practice what you preach. 2. Have a family discussion on TV If you're family has been passively gathered around the TV for years and considers this "family time" try something different. Turn the TV OFF and discuss your relationship with television. Who knows, maybe this discussion will be so much more interesting, you'll end up replacing family TV time with family talk time once a week? 3. Talk to younger brothers and sisters If bringing your whole family on board is a bit difficult, try younger siblings. Work on curbing TV watching together. Make it fun for your younger brother or sister. Offer a reward, or draw up a chart together to help both of you keep track of your TV habits. Spend time together and bond instead of watching TV. 4. Encourage your Imam to talk about it in the Khutbah Talking about the fundamentals of faith and prevailing politics are good topics for Friday Khutbah, but TV, the menace right in your home is also pressing. Convince the Imam that talking about the harms of TV and how to avoid it is a beneficial Khutbah topic. 5. Have a TV free get-together with friends Make the following rule here: no one will watch TV, movies or anything related to the box in the living room. Also, if you want to really go further, make it a rule that the topics of conversation cannot revolve around the latest twist in a soap opera or the most recent plot on a sci-fi show. Play basketball in your backyard, go for a walk, do ANYTHING HALAL but watch TV. http://www.soundvision.com/Info/parenting/againstTV.asp -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some statistics on television in America Whether you love it, hate it or are indifferent to it, television is a fixture in most American homes today. Ninety-eight percent of households in the United States have at least one television set and 34 percent have two. Forty-nine percent of Americans say they watch too much television. Television isn't just about the number of television sets people own though. It is also about its practical effects on viewers and the content it presents. Below are some statistics to consider about television. All of them were taken from the TV Turnoff Network. THE TIME COST OF TELEVISION WATCHING -According to the A.C. Nielsen Co. the average American watches 3 hours and 46 minutes of TV each day (that's more than 52 days of nonstop TV-watching per year). -By the age of 65 the average American will have spent nearly nine years glued to the tube. -Parents spend 38.5 minutes per week in meaningful conversation with their children is 38.5. THE EFFECT OF TELEVISION ON DAILY LIFE -The number of videos rented daily in the United States is six million while the number of public library items checked out daily is three million. -Forty percent of Americans always or often watch television while eating dinner. HOW MUCH VIOLENCE IS THERE REALLY ON T.V.? -The average American child sees 200,000 violent acts on television by the time he or she reaches the age of 18. -Eighty percent of Hollywood executives believe there is a link between TV violence and real-life violence. TELEVISION: IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT SHOWS -An average child sees 30,000 TV commercials in a year. -By the time s/he reaches the age of 65, the average American will have seen two million TV commercials TELEVISION: THE KNOWLEDGE BUILDER? -While 59 percent of Americans can name The Three Stooges, only 17 percent can name three Supreme Court Justices. http://www.soundvision.com/Info/misc/tvturnoff.asp
