Doing the impossible
15 hours ago
Saturday, December 1, 2007
What if the Edwards family had owned a TV?
As I mentioned, I've recently read several books on how media affects family life, most notably The Plug-In Drug: Television, Computers and Family Life by Marie Winn. What struck me most was that she didn't focus on the content of media, but rather, on all the things we don't do when we spend too much time watching TV, playing video games, or surfing the internet. We socialize less, spend less time on hobbies, read less, and don't play as many games. And it can leave family members feeling less connected. Eric's brother, Dane, had a wonderful quote on his blog about how Jonathan Edwards engaged with his family in the evenings. I just love the picture it brings to mind, and I want to make sure our family has lots of evenings together, rather than looking at our separate screens.
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3 comments:
That sounds like an interesting book! I think it's spot on that content is only one part of it. When I was 9, my best friend was Mormon and one of their things was that they had a family night every week -- no one was allowed to have any outside activities that night (including Dad) and there was no telly, just the whole family together (8 of them), playing games and talking. Even as a kid, I could see how beneficial it was.
When I get through my pile of current books, I will have to read this one. :)
It's really too bad that we don't study Jonathan Edwards and his family in school. I was introduced to him in college and continue to strive for a home life like he and Sarah.
This summer I started a "Family Movie Night" -- spontaneously b/c Sarah was bored and we had nothing going on. We eat popcorn and ice cream and watched family movies. To my surprise, she told my mom that this was her favorite night of the week! So we alternate between games and movies, now, when she is here. And for Christmas we bought bowls with each person's name on them to use for family night ("Sarah's Ice Cream",etc). You could also paint them yourself, for a fun family project!
S--I love that idea of a family night! Realistically, most of us can't do it every night.
Camille--family movie night sounds fun! Great to alternate with games too. :)
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