posted March 03, 2013 07:53 PM            

Whatever your answer....how do you think that effected your life? Would you offer the same to your own children, or curb it altogether (or somewhere in between)?

TV shows (and commercials) have changed drastically in a few short years. Did you grow up with a boob-tube babysitter and get to see all the pop culture movies of your day? Do you think it helped you? As a parent these days do you restrict your child's tv viewing or make a point to monitor it? At this point, I guess the questions apply to internet viewing too....

posted March 03, 2013 08:09 PM            

i had a super nintendo, a sega dream whatever can't remember and the 1st playstation. i stopped playing 1st year high school coz i got a social life lol!

they never interested me so much. i suppose i preferred to be social.

not much effect. i grew up normal. offer the same i guess. but i don't really want to parent/ discipline. i'm too chill to be somebody's parent.

posted March 03, 2013 09:01 PM            

quote:

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I would completely go boot-camp on their bootie.

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LOL

will respond more later on.

posted March 03, 2013 09:28 PM            

Currently we have no free to air or cable TV by choice. todays viewing is archonic. However, we do own a large flat screen TV and an Apple TV (hardrive) to chose our own shows that usually consist of a series, movies ( for us parents) and wholesome music vids I make for the kids, and I downloaded some shows from 1986-1987 for Tahlea, and one Disney movie.

It hasn't always been this way, as in my heavily controlling the use of screen time. Though my eldest daughter did not even see a TV til she was 2ish. It can have an affect on a child's view of the world, and affect their communication. Although a child is hearing words there is no two-way, so the child does not respond the same as they would with a human. This on a regular basis is harmful to their development.

I can not totally restrict screen-time in a screen dependant world. I can and will make choices about what is entering my child's mind through the screen, how long they get to spend using it and his they use things like the Internet. The less the better when they are under 7, ideally not at all. There are TV addicts today and they don't even register it as a problem, just like food addicts ect... It's socially accepted. I think it's a sickness. I am not going to breed TV addicts, I am breeding creative, intelligent, minds with ingenuity at their core. It's different to wanting a bit of TV for some down time, than to watching every single program series like an addict. It's not a very productive or wholesome hobby... That's where I am coming from.

After the age of 7 then TV use is limited and screen such as an iPad also limited. I know children have a lot fun watching their favourite shows, so I am not against entertainment, only with caution in a young impressionable minds.

I know where I stand on the issue and I never try to give my views to others unless they ask, in my house hold other activities come way before the TV goes on. Sometimes there is no time for TV as play takes over.

I also made a curtain for the TV when it's not used so it is not the centre of the room. No focus on it at all.

(Sent from my phone)

posted March 03, 2013 09:43 PM            

I would never fall in love or hate the tv, but used wisely, it's ok and I probably would never throw it out- if I don't like what music videos are out there for young children, I make my own.

posted March 03, 2013 10:34 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Odette:
I would completely go boot-camp on their bootie.

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we don't have kiddie boot or fat camp here. i would have been though. i was a fat spoiled taurus. in 3rd grade i think i looked like drew carey with the crew cut and glasses. i was sent to tennis camp so i would lose some weight. i had such a huge crush on my virgo tennis instructor! my 1st gf shares her bday. she is famous now so i can look her bday up.

what i loved to do was collect stuff. i'd buy basketball cards and action figures.

also dogs. i had 3 at one point. a poodle, a spitz, and their son lol! if i could keep one thing it would be the dogs.

posted March 03, 2013 11:46 PM            

The 'rents had cable (not sure how it happened, Dad said they had it until they got their first bill for it) but there was only one TV and Mom pretty much dominated it (unless Dad took control of it for a little while, but he wasn't big on TV or movies himself) so I didn't get much use out of it. I watched most TV with friends instead.

But I didn't take much part in it at either place. With Granny I was on a farm with many woods and there was not only plenty of chores but also picking berries for pies, skinny dipping and fishing, horseback riding, and all kinds of games (though some mind boggling boring in retrospect, like where we'd wait outside the one store in town on Sunday and try to guess which church just let out, though we got good at it).

Another hobby I had was skateboarding which Granny got for my 14th birthday, and I mention that because I'd always wanted a skateboard ever since I saw The Crow back when I was 11. Granny didn't like to encourage my tomboy ways but she did get me that and I did a lot (sometimes even getting to school and back on it). And that would continue to affect my life in both subtle and overt ways, and it was because of the first R-rated movie I saw (and later snuck in to see again)...just glad it wasn't the vigilante violence & arson of the movie that inspired me instead.

With the 'rents I avoided them as much as possible (so that definitely meant avoiding the TV while home) and practiced a lot of escapism via reading & writing my own stories. I also biked out to the woods a lot (though they disappeared pretty rapidly for new homes as I grew up) and being with friends...my BFF had a father she liked to avoid and we often both went anywhere but each other's home. She liked TV more than I did and got me into some shows, but it was never a big deal to me. We were both more into music anyway.

However, a movie I caught on TV (while Mom was passed out drunk) did have a major effect on my life...but that's a long story. I only watched it because it was raining too hard to go anywhere else right then and chanced across it, but I'm so glad I got to see it. But even then I quickly followed up with books (including the one the movie was based on) and so that continued that books affected me far more than movies.

Then when I moved in with someone just before I turned 17 I was asked to not partake in TV for an entire year as an experiment (and as it was so rural that one couldn't get anything without cable anyway it was pretty easy as most people I knew didn't bother with cable), though mild use of the VCR was permitted (mostly assumed to be educational somehow, and I never saw anything for entertainment without permission). So I took a suggested alternative and joined a D&D campaign (medieval fantasy roleplaying game) and that inspired me to explore history, philosophy, and a myriad of other things (as well as greatly expanding my vocabulary) that I believed had a positive impact on who I turned out to be, and I loved it far more than TV because it was not only socially bonding with all involved it inspired active creativity rather than passive viewing and there was real tension because the good guys weren't guaranteed to win, plus the lack of commercials only helped me to prefer it even more.

posted March 03, 2013 11:50 PM            

We had four channels in England, and didn't have a VCR until I was thirteen - and that was an old one.

posted March 03, 2013 11:57 PM            

As for the kids I try to keep up with it and also talk about the things on it so that they don't get an unrealistic view of life or bad ideas from it, and I also point out how commercials (and sometimes news) is manipulative and how to handle that.

They love my Buffy and Angel dvds.

posted March 05, 2013 01:14 AM            

I also grew up without much tv, but had girlfriends who had cable tv in their bedrooms.

Something I noticed about the few of them, none of them liked to read. ...

....just something I noticed when I thought back on things....

Personally I feel lucky that I wasnt allowed to watch much TV and we never had a VCR or video games (though different places we were babysat at had an early Nintendo, which my brother loved and I did not care so much about)

I do think not having it helped my imagination and how to this day, I could never be bored with myself and always find something to do, or think about....

i think it helped me to be able to entertain myseslf, but to this day, i have missed out on most of the pop culture movies that most people know about. Which can be weird sometimes, but not really. I saw most of the good ones at friends houses.

posted March 05, 2013 01:17 AM            

especially this part:

quote:

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I also made a curtain for the TV when it's not used so it is not the centre of the room. No focus on it at all.

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posted March 05, 2013 01:19 AM            

quote:

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As for the kids I try to keep up with it and also talk about the things on it so that they don't get an unrealistic view of life or bad ideas from it, and I also point out how commercials (and sometimes news) is manipulative and how to handle that.

They love my Buffy and Angel dvds.

My philosophy in a nutshell is "all things in moderation." Moderate use of games and TV is no problem to me, and I even try to use it to make it an inspiring or learning experience as well as a socially bonding one.

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posted March 05, 2013 01:20 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by teasel:

We had four channels in England, and didn't have a VCR until I was thirteen - and that was an old one.

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I remember those days. Rabbit ears. All the cool kids had VCR's LOL

posted March 05, 2013 01:25 AM            

quote:

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we don't have kiddie boot or fat camp here. i would have been though. i was a fat spoiled taurus. in 3rd grade i think i looked like drew carey with the crew cut and glasses.

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LOL

I remember seeing a pic you posted, of you as a chubby Taurus kiddie. Super cute. Huggie and squeezable. & don't worry, I looked the same way - a girl version of you. Total chubby-wubbie, rolley-polley, chunky Taurus girl.

posted March 05, 2013 01:34 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Lexxigramer:
Video games had not been invented yet.
Most folks still had b/w television.
There were no home computers yet,
no cable or satellite yet either.
For the most part did not have television.
I read over 2,000 books by age 18.
I explored the old growth forests before they were butchered by idiots again.
I camped, hiked, bicycled long distances.
My son did much the same, but had video games too, and was not into television.
He even got scolded by an idiot teacher because he could not do the ordered assignment;
"what is your favorite TV show and character?".
Well he did not have one because he did not watch television but rarely,
and then only educational programs.
He chose to not watch the popular shows/sitcoms.
The teacher said no to the educational shows;
as she wanted a sitcom or whatever.

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and here I feel old remembering computers that had black screens with green type.