Caleb comes up to us quite often asking if he can watch television. We often try to resist, hopefully minimizing his (and his sisters') exposure to the shows, regardless of how harmless or even educational they may be. Sometimes I ask myself why we resist. After all, there are some really educational cartoons around. Dora helps to enhance memory and thinking in procedural steps, Word World teaches phonics and word creation, Imagination Movers helps stimulate the mind to think creatively. (No mention of Ben 10 is entirely intentional.)
I guess the problem is the incessant drone of images and information that just goes on and on without stopping. When I was growing up, story books were the de-facto medium of communication. Reading allowed me to stop as and when I needed to in order to reflect. Did the character do the right thing? What are the ethical and moral implications of the action? How would the other characters react to such an action? How does that change the storyline? But in television, before I could even start asking the first question, I have to start catching up with the next set of images that flash in front of my eyes.
Story books allowed me to stop to imagine the scene that was painted by the words. They allowed me to exercise my imagination, build up the scene mural by mural, tearing down the last one and rebuild in my mind if need be. It allowed me to be creative. In television, others have imagined for me. They have built the murals. They get to be creative, I have to be passive.
Perhaps that's why we have resisted allowing the children to watch too much television. Caleb rarely asks us questions when he watches the television. But when we read him story books, he frequently asks to go back to something he didn't understand. He turns the pages backwards in order to see how the previous page links up with the current page. He gets to think.
But I realize the children are not the only ones facing the issue of incessant drone of images. I too face the same problem. My browser has at least 200 over links to web sites which I feel provide good information. From online news, to reviews on new gadgets, to social networking, to theological websites. I desire information more than ever before. BBC news accompanies me in my car journeys, podcasts fill my ipod, sermons accompany on my long runs and facebook updates by friends and loved ones fill in whatever small snippets of time I have here and there.
Reflection has almost become an after thought. My most productive thinking times (I have come to realize) are the times when I'm taking a bath. Can't bring my gadgets in there. (Incidentally, Hilton Hotel in KL actually has a television in the toilet facing both the bath and the great white throne, a bad idea in my opinion.)
Hopefully when my son reads this blog many years later, he'll come to realize why we more often than not say "no" to his television requests. I guess I have also come to realize that each time I say "no" to him, I have to say "no" to myself as well. After all, the Apostle Paul did say in 1 Corinthians 10:23 that "all things are permissable, but not everything is beneficial." Perhaps, less information but more reflection is a better way to go.
