Quality Family Time- without Television
Marie Winn blames television for undermining family life. I do feel that television does take away from families in some households, but in many cases this is not true. Winn states, "Who could have guessed that twenty or so years later Mom would be watching a drama in the kitchen, the kids would be looking at cartoons in their room, while Dad would be taking in the ball game in the living room?" In most cases this isn't accurate at all. Many families watch shows together. For example, my family watches a movie together just about every night. Other families do this as well, but some don't watch television at all.Many other families have other problems that interfer with their time spent together not relating to the television.
The television can be very beneficial as well. Winn doesn't put enough emphasis on this topic. There are many educational programs for children, such as Seaseme Street. Also, stations such as the discovery channel can be very infromational as well. Many political issues are addressed by TV. For example, last night the address to the state of the union was televised. TV can be a medium that distributes good information, as well as bad. There can be good in televison.
25 comments:
I agree with you Lauren. I know my mother and I watch at least one tv show or movie a night together and this gives us time to talk about our day as we watch the program together.
And yes i agree with you on the fact that there are educational programs. But how many families do you know of that sat down together just to watch the State of the Union Address or any other news progams? I know that I didnt!
It can give good information but hardly anyone watches it. mMinly because it is on to late. Most kids are in bed by 11 o'clock so they cant sit down and watch the news with their parents.
I also agree with you Lauren. I think that Winn only tells what negative effects television has on families but she doesn't tell the advantages to this technology. My family also has its time when we all sit together and watch a movie. I thinkt that if there is a family that lets television break the members apart then it is because they choose to let it happen. I don't think that all families are like that and that everyone knows how to spend time with each other.
I used to find it quite relaxing to watch TV with my family after a long and a busy day. There were maybe two shows in a week that we all watched. I also think that it was the time when we spoke the most.
Now when I`m far a way from home I value more the time I spend with my family. I don´t think it is the same thing to watch TV and for example play board games with your family.
I agree with Winn that TV has replaced quality family time. But I still think that the biggest reason why families don´t spend enough time together nowdays is because everyone tends to be so busy.
I too agree with all four of you. I do on the other hand agree with Winn's statements she made in her essay as well. My mother and I watched tv together all the time, before I left for college. Now that im no longer living at home my mom calls me and we will sometimes watch the same tv show while on the phone together. Watching tv does not make you closer with your family. My mother and I have an extremely close relationship and I know that it has nothing to do with the amount of tv we watched together.
Families can be close oriented and share meanful conversations without watching tv. Even though I agree with you all as well as Winn I beleive that some things in Winn's essay as well as you all's comments are not entirely true.
I know how you feel, Aunnika. I am torn between my agreement and disagreement with Winn's article.
Between school, work, and homework, I do not get much time with my family. However, my family does watch a few shows and movies together. It kind of brings us together and we will oftentimes discuss the show or movie afterwards.
On the other hand, in a lot of households, the television is seen as a babysitter for the kids, a way to put off homework for teens, earmuffs for the nagged husband, and a drama fix for housewives. Television has become a distraction and in a lot of homes, it takes away from family life.
I agree with you Lauren. There are actually plenty of good programs on television that keep us up-to-date with everything that is happening in the world, whether it is political or educational. There are shows for the kids and adults to watch. Television can bring families together not just for those purposes. That can be a time for them to relax an enjoy their quality time together.
I agree with all the previous comments on how that Winn only talks about the bad effects of Televison. Yes, families do not all watch the same shows and watch them in different rooms so they do not spend as much time together.
This is not true for all families all of the time. Many families have a weekly show they all watch together or they go to see movies together at the theatre.
I for one miss being able to watch television and going out to see movies with my family now that I am away for college
I disagree just a little with you Lauren when you stated that winn's didn't put enough emphasis on the topic. I think that winn's did put good amount of enphasis on the topic. Today in the new generation we are so hook to watching television instead of going outside and catching some fresh air. I am not saying that television is bad for people these days but back then in the early days families were doing more things as a family then individals.
The television is very useful so I totally agree on that part. their are shows that are very educational for toddlars. Winn's had alot to say and she had good amount of examples that backed her up. so my opinnion is that she really did enphasis enough on the topic.
I agree with you Lauren. I know when I was little every Sunday I would sit with my father and watch football with him. I thought that brought us closer. Many families sit together and watch television. Not all families are like how Winn describe them to be.
There are some educational things on television too. I know my two year old nephew will walk around the house saying things in Spanish that he got from television. So some shows can be benefical to kids.
I also agre with you, Lauren. There are always two sides to every story but Winn seems to reflect only on the negative side of tv watching. I, myself, as a child watched a lot of television but I did know exactly what to watch such as Reading Rainbow, Bill Nye: The Science Guy, and so on. There are a lot of good things that come out of television, but we will never exactly know unless we take time to see the good in it.
I agree with you, Lauren, on your stance about how there are many families that do not sit in separate areas of their homes every night and actually spend quality time with each other. But, I would say that probably in most cases, families are not together watching tv with each other or just spending time together. Rarely ever does a family have enough time to do that. Also, yes you are right that there are educational programs on television. But how many can you count? I could probably count them on one hand. And I agree with Justin B when he says that children are not going to even sit down and watch the State of the union address. I'm 18 years old, and i have no desire at all to sit down and watch the President of the United States make a 3 hour speech. No child would be able to sit through that.
I agree with you, Lauren but you have to understand the time period that Winn wrote this essay. I did a little research, the production of television was not until 1927, which is only fifty-five years before Marie Winn wrote this essay in 1977. I understand Winn’s argument, sometimes when something new is in trend, it changes the pattern of life.
I agree with you as well Lauren. I feel that just because members of a family like to watch the television in another room, doesn’t really affect how they interact with each other. I know that my the members of my family each have their own show they like to watch and I know that if I do not like a show that my father likes, I am not just going to sit down and watch it to spend “quality time” with him. I also like the point you made about how there are a whole bunch of educational television out there for people to watch (I know I am a sucker for the History channel and Animal Planet) and how “Winn does not put enough emphasis on this topic”, because even though she gives good evidence about her argument, she really gives no good reasons on the "pros" of television.
I agree with Tammy. I grew up in a family with lots of kids. We were always outside doing something creative.
As I grew up and went off to college, I realized the children that are left tend to sit in front of the t.v. all day. I feel that they should find something more mind stimulating to do. I feel that t.v. rots the brain.
I agree with you Lauren. Even though I'm not at home to see be around my siblings, I do know for a fact that my mom finds a way through television to spend time with my little brothers. I guess she takes the sense that this something that she can do that is more on her level. Instead of playing cops and robbers or power rangers.
Also I do agree on the fact that the television can be good and bad for families. They do have shows that are positive such as Seventh Heaven, and they have negative shows such as Jackass. Now that show is very negative and influential. The quality time that families spend together could be other than watching television but when parents are tired from along day of work or just don't feel the need to play this is where television comes in.
I agree that TV has a good side as well as a bad one, we just have to use the good one.
I also agree that you can have quality time with family infront of a TV, watching a movie or a show, as long as you don't spend the entire day doing that.
There are other ways of having quality time with family, and probably better ways, like play outside, visit friends, visit family, etc..
But this doesn't mean TV is the worst thing in the world, we just have to know how to use it.
I agree with you Lauren in the fact that television is taking away from some families quality time, but those are the families that use the T.V. as a babysitter for their children. They are too lazy to take the time to disiplin their children so they use the T.V. to avoid confrontation.
Families that have a T.V. in almost every room are asking for trouble. It allows the children to avoid their family and still be able to watch their shows.
Yes there are some good educational shows on T.V., but most of them are aired in the morning and the dramas are aired at night, so therefore the parents need to take responsibility for making sure their children are watching approprate programming, and they are not relying on television for their childrens education.
I totally agree with you Lauren. Television can be used as an information super highway. But i don't think she is saying all tv is bad.
I feel the same way as what wendy wrote in the above comment. TV is just like anything else available to you; its good in moderation. You have to be in control of what you do and not rely on your TV. I watch a few soccer games and House and thats about it.
Some children and young people watch so much television that they begin to be bored and look for new interesting programs. They find pornography and begin to get lost in something they don't understand. This could apply to violence or simply intense subject matter.
Either way you must be in control of what you watch and not let it controls you. There are plenty of alternatives to television.
I agree with Lauren. When im at home my family always watches tv together. Whether it be a sport or a reality show or a movie we always spend time together.
I disagree with you Lauren. The television may have a few positive things but over all the television gives more negative then positive. More minds are miss guided then influenced in an intelligent way.
Ryan, you are wrong. I disagree with Lauren. Television watching does not count as quality family time. When a family sits down to watch a television show, they do not interact with one another which is key in order to build up relationships.
I really agree with you Lauren. My family usually gets together and watch tv two times a least now that i live on campus at Lander. Before i moved we probably did it twice or three times as much. Also, many familes do many other things than just watch tv together. There are lots and lots of things that families can do to be together. So the time that we spend watching tv away from each other doesn't really take away from you being together. Just think about how many things you do with your parents besides watching tv.
The television does bring the family together in some sense, but it still isn’t the quality time many use to have. Back when the television was first made public it was a great technological advance and the shows that were being broadcasted were educational. The news allowed people to catch up with the things they may have missed during the day, and informed them of upcoming events. More often than none though the television was used for family time when the whole family would sit around and watch rather than individual members all watching something separate at the opposite ends of a house. The biggest difference though is the children of this era were outside interacting with other neighborhood children which still gave them a social life rather than watching T.V. and playing video games by themselves.
There are many other ways to spend time with families beside TV. Yeah, I agree, 20 years ago people used TV to get together with family. However, this day in age, technology is so advanced, people can record there favorite programs on TV and watch them any time they want. They should be no excuses why people do not spend time with their families. If a person is going to blame TV for the lack of involvement within the family, then they need to ask themselves, what type of person they are?
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