I could sit here and lie to you, tell you that I believe that television is bad. That watching television erodes the mind and destroys a person’s cognitive sense of self and well-being, and that it destroys lives. I do believe that TV help cause children, who remain unmonitored, to become fat and lazy and I believe that video games and the internet have the ability to add to this phenomenon. However, I find that saying, “TV and Video games lead to uncreative and lazy children,” is like saying, “Guns kill people.” I don’t believe that the gun, itself, is going to go on a murderous rampage, nor do I believe that TV or video games, by themselves, are going to make children fat and lazy. Guns require someone to become weapons of death just like TV and video games require someone to become fat and lazy.

However, you can’t blame the individual nor can you blame the parent if a person is more interested in watching whatever is on or playing video games. That is almost entirely unacceptable in our society. To blame someone for actually doing something or not doing something is insane. I mean, we should blame the weapons manufacturers because people, outside of the influence of the manufacturing and distribution process, illegal buy or sell handguns and then use said handguns to go out and shoot people, possibly killing them. Whoever heard of actually taking accountability for ones actions? I know, I know, it’s a foreign ideal.

Let’s pretend for a moment that Television isn’t bad and that handguns, of themselves, don’t kill people. And, for a moment, let’s focus on television.

The TV in most peoples’ homes wasn’t purchased to be a decorative item. Yes, televisions can add to the décor of a home, but the item itself is used for information and for entertainment. I mean that. Televisions serve a purpose in transferring information or to entertain people. There is no other reason to have one if you don’t intend to be entertained or informed. News channels are entertainment venues unless something of great importance is happening, and then they become channels of information. We all watch and stare at the screen waiting for some kind of update. I remember having my televisions (all of them, there were three at the time) all turned into various news channels when 9/11 happened. All day, it seemed for weeks, if I was in the apartment, they remained on, they remained on the grisly and heart-wrenching pictures and videos of the planes crashing into the towers and the towers coming down. I really I can’t stand watching video of the towers coming down. But at the time, the news channels went from entertaining me with information about what was happening in the world to informing me about what was going on with something that had become personally important.

Do you remember that day, that week? We all appreciated the very distinctive manner in with President G.W. Bush handled the national emergency. Now, I believe, a majority of people would gladly oust the man for the way in which he manipulated public sentiment to get into Iraq. And we can’t just leave Iraq because we’ve created a powderkeg of a problem that we really need to see through… or until the independent governments ask us to leave. I’m good with the latter happening.

We also use television for entertainment. In the past I’ve written a couple of entries on what I am watching on TV these days. Right now, I get to find bit-torrent downloads of the shows I want to watch. Which means, I am currently keeping up with the Stargate shows and am thinking of seeing if I can get copies of Eureka; however, TV offers a lot of different options for people from educational entertainment channels like the Discovery network of channels (Discover, Travel, TLC, etc.) to purely entertainment driven channels like HBO and Showtime. You can turn on the TV at any time of the day or night and find yourself enmeshed in a world unlike anything you’ve ever experienced because television, at its core, is used to entertain people – most of the time. You can go on a sex romp through channels dedicated to pornography, or find yourself on a mid-twentieth century adventure through various classic movie channels. With the right equipment and money, you can do almost anything.

Imagine having this box in your house that was only ever used for transfer of information. You’d probably look for excuses not to have it or find other uses for it. An aquarium comes to mind. The nation has actually moved away from informational sources like newspapers preferring, instead, the sexier and easier accessibility of the internet. However, combine the information capabilities with entertainment, bring the movies into your home, add functionality that allows you to enjoy the experience, and the outcome is that people are going to schedule time to be at home to watch weekly serials (television shows), they’re going to go to news channels, they’re going to watch public and open access channels… the television becomes one element to entertainment.

I know that one roommate and I scheduled one night a week to watch Donald Trump (The Donald) fire one more person on his The Apprentice reality show. I like the show. I think it actually offers good advice for those who want to go into business. The key to the show is learning to work with people for a common objective. The kick in the pants with the show is that it is reality television and reality TV requires people who are only interested in their own objectives and goals. The outcome to this is you have a combination of people who know how to work well together and those who are more than likely going to stab you in the back the first chance you get. It’s entertaining, not informative. And yet, you can delve the depths of that kind of show and get useful information (though not from anything The Donald has written… that’s all useless crap).

Television, like so many other things, is bad if you make it bad. You can become obsessed. You can lose sight of what is important. The TV in your home can become this instrument that is so overwhelmingly in charge of your life that you will consider nothing else but what is on and when and how it affects your life. That is bad. That is the bad part of television watching. It is destructive and potentially dangerous and does lead to “couch potatoes” and overweight adults and children.

I remember my mother talking about soap operas once. She said that she was in a store and realized that one of her “soaps” was on and immediately left the cart she was shopping with, grabbed the child or children she had with her, and went home to watch that program. When she’d realized what she’d done, according to her, she stopped watching those shows altogether. It didn’t take some intervention, merely the realization that she was making her life revolve around the television.

Growing up we weren’t allowed to watch TV during certain parts of the day or, early on, on different days of the week. That meant that we, as children, had to find alternative sources of entertainment in order to fill the long (and often boring) hours between waking up and when we were allowed to watch whatever was on. When we were in school, and (theoretically) as long as our homework was done, we were allowed to watch cartoons in the afternoons and then whatever was on into the evening. In the summer it seemed like memory tells me that we weren’t allowed to watch television until after 5 p.m. That was the rule. We tried to break it. Frequently. But that was the rule.

As a result I learned to find other things to do. Sleep was one. But I’ve always required a bit of sleep. However, there are other things that we could do. Spending a lot of my formative years in Texas meant that I got used to the neighborhood, the creek that ran through the neighborhood, the woods and trees, as well as storm drains, and how to get to various locations. Having a bike was freedom because it meant I could go places and do things and I didn’t have to wait for my parents to get around to maybe being able to take me. It also meant that on cold mornings I got to ride that bike to school or walk. That was never fun, but the freedom of being able to do one thing required that I accept the obligation of doing something else.

Even driving a car, as a teenager, allowed me certain freedoms that were coupled with responsibilities. Most of them associated with shuttling brothers and sister to the various places they needed, or wanted, to be. As long as I did that I had the freedom to drive, to go places, to have a “ride” to work (so long as we had an extra car); and my parents had the freedom to do what they wanted to do with their lives.

TV allows us various freedoms. One of them is to be informed, if we want it, about what is happening in the world around us. We can learn from what is on. Another freedom is that we can be entertained. I’ve said this in the past, and I will probably say it again, but I am an entertainment junkie. Many people will read that, look at me, say something like, “I’ve lived with him… he, uhm…” and then trail off because I don’t always make it clear what is entertaining to me and what is not. I do look for new ways to entertain myself. However, TV is only one means of doing that. Movies are only one element. Exploring is another element. You can ride motorcycles, work on automobiles, go hiking, participate in community projects, there are all sorts of things that you can do that is entertaining and gets you out of the house and away from the television.

The thing that gets me is when people take the whole idea of TV to an extreme. Becoming fat and lazy because you’ve got to watch what is on and have to sit there all the time is an extreme. Not having a box in your home is an extreme. I can’t judge either extreme. I’ve known people who have monitors that are hooked up to DVD or VHS players simply so they can have educational shows on for their children fearing what is on broadcast television. Again, I don’t have what it takes to say anything about that. It’s a choice each individual, and family, has to make for themselves. I’m good with that. But to say that everyone who watches TV is a bad person or that all television is bad for you and holds no value is equally wrong. That is a choice you’ve made for yourself. Congratulations. I applaud your ability to make those kinds of choices.

From a religious context we have not been counciled to not have a television or not to watch television. General Conference, twice a year, is broadcast to millions of homes because there are television stations and people with those evil boxes in their homes. You get to hear God’s word from his prophets and apostles and other leaders because TV makes it possible. Instead of having to wait for a print copy of the addresses or an audio recording or a video recording you get to watch it live. When tragedies happen its broadcast right into your home. Think about that. Really think about it. For purely informational purposes the television is an invaluable tool. AND you don’t have to JUST watch information.

In my case I get to see shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Boston Legal and Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis and others. In the fall I get to experience Aaron Sorkin’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip which I am excited about as well as many other shows that are currently in hiatus and will start up, again, sometime between September and May of next year. That is entertainment. Entertainment is putting aside my crappy life and taking up something that distracts me for a period of time. As long as it doesn’t get in the way of what I am trying to do (school, work, other things) then it is not a bad thing. It is merely one means of my filling my time with additional distractions. And I am good with that.

There will always be people who become too obsessed with something. And for those people I don’t know if there is a way to suggest or get help. Maybe they have to entirely remove the obsessive element from their lives. Little children don’t have the ability to determine, on their own, how much is too much. They need to be monitored. I am not an advocate of TV as babysitter, nor do I like the idea of the television being the only source of entertainment for children; nor the internet; nor video games. Children need to be pushed out the door and, if necessary, made to find alternative means of entertainment. Books are one source that I’ve enjoyed my entire life. Riding a bike is another one (which reminds me… anyone want to donate to the John Needs a Bike Fund?). Just because someone wants something doesn’t mean they need it or should have it. Just because you may want to watch TV doesn’t mean you should.