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TV Turnoff
Friday, November 29, 2024 by Rick Stockwell
TV Turnoff
READ Psalm 101:1-8
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
-- Romans 12:2 (NIV)
A 1982 study of 764 Oakland, California, USA sixth-graders revealed that in a given week, they spent 30 hours in school and 30 hours watching television. That worked out to 3 hours per day during the week and 6 to 8 hours per day on the weekends. After reviewing that study, the Library Council of Farmington, Connecticut, recommended the town promote a TV Turnoff campaign during the month of January 1984. The goal was to “promote reading and library use.” The local media picked up the story first, and then it quickly spread to the national level, both in the United States and Canada. While attending business school in Atlanta, Georgia, I marveled at the fact that my mother, who served on the Farmington Board of Education that year, was interviewed by Joan Lunden on the national ABC News television program Good Morning America.
Fast forward forty years, and the problem has gotten worse. According to a January 18, 2024 article in The Epoch Times, Americans spend an average of 7 hours per day behind screens, excluding time at work or school. “Screens can overstimulate our brains, resulting in a perpetual, highly stressed, fight-or-flight state. This then makes us prone to meltdowns, depression, and anxiety when even minor changes in the environment occur.”
At the urging of several close friends, I instituted a TV Turnoff of my own. Since canceling my cable television subscription and deleting several popular social media applications from my smartphone, I’m less stressed and have more time to focus on things of lasting value. While media isn’t all bad, it should be used in moderation, especially by children.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Do not conform to the pattern of this world.
Prayer: Father in heaven, please help us to follow your ways, not the ways of this world.
Prayer Focus: SIXTH GRADERS
Rick Stockwell
Rick Stockwell is employed as an IT Program Manager. He teaches Sunday school for kindergartners, is an elder at his church, and is the author of two Christian novels: THE WALL and THE BATTLE. He's been married for thirty-four years, and has two children and five grandchildren.
Book link: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07HQ8G3MJ
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