Conference tecrus::mormonism

    I am a TV junkie.
    
    Almost every night when I come home, my first impulse is to turn
    on the stupid tube. Fortunately, I have other commitments that serve
    to pull me away from the 'all seeing eye.' My callings keep me busy,
    and are an impetus to greater spirituality as well as to turn away
    from the secular abominations glorified on TV. I know that TV isn't
    good for me. Yet is it easy to find excuses to watch it.
    
    I once went for four years (82-85) without a TV. My former roommate
    owned the TV in the household, and when we went our separate ways, he
    took it with him. For a couple weeks, I would automatically go to where
    the TV was to turn it on upon arriving home from work! In this peaceful
    absence of a TV, I realized there was nothing I wanted to see bad enough
    to make me go out and buy a new set. So I never did buy one. 

    It was wonderful! There were always things to do and people to see.
    If there was some event of Obvious Global Significance, like a Red 
    Sox game, I could always see it at a friend's home as part of a
    social event. 
    
    When I went in with some friends to buy a house together in 86, they 
    moved in with their TV's. Now I'm addicted again. Sigh.
    
    My experience taught me that:
    
    1. TV is addictive. Watching it becomes a habit, which must be
    controlled like other bad habits.
    
    2. TV is destructive. Not only is it destructive mentally (sometimes
    I can feel my brain melt and ooze out my ears), but it is destructive
    socially. It is easier to flip on the set than to go out and be
    social. Or be creative.
    
    3. There are always, always, always other things to do. In fact
    there are so many things to do in this world that there ought to
    be little time for TV. Yet it is so powerfully attractive that we
    sacrifice all these other things we could be doing.
    
    The First Presidency is correct in their concern about Television.
    TV's content leaves little room for spirituality, and TV's time
    commitment can crowd out other, more productive activities.
    
    The Ensign article has left me with a renewed determination to control
    my addiction. I'm grateful to Heavenly Father for the inspiration
    of the Church's leadership on this matter.
    
                 
    In Christ's love,
    /kevin

    
      It is a difficult task to keep the influences of Satan out of
    your home, especially when one of his best transmitters commands
    a prominent place in the family room.  
    
      Lately, my children, my wife and I have tried hard to read more.
    My two year old is not very good at this, and niether is my four
    year old, but they *love* books.  If we are busy and cannot read
    to them, they will look at books they know well, and pretend to
    read the story.
    
      I think that the TV is a great invention that closes the gaps
    between people, and allows us to learn *many* new things.  But like
    anything else that is good, it can be misused if it is not monitored.
    
    Jim
    

    Well, if one desires, it can be handled as a friend once told us
    "I took the TV out of the family room and into my bedroom so it
    wouldn't be such a bad influence on the kids."  I thought that made
    sense.
    
    Two thoughts.  One is that more than what we think as dangerous
    is, and kids have little imagination - pull the plug and they won't
    find out whats wrong for a week.
    
    Seriously, I was watching to much news and it started to have an
    effect on my attitude.  I was talking to my dad one day about this
    and he said at one time he was sitting there watching TV and realized
    that most of what he saw on the news had no direct effect on him
    and even if it did he couldn't do much about it, so he was getting
    upset for no good reason.  That doesn't mean he doesn't get involved
    in things that do effect him, it just means he doesn't sit at home
    watching TV and worry about it.  After all, most of what effects
    us is local and you don't see that on TV news.
    
    And if you don't like the plug or think your kids are to smart,
    try the adjustments in the back, although some kids will watch snow
    on the screen thinking that something or someone will come along
    after a while and fix it.

    
    	We did the same thing i.e., took the TV out of the living room
    and placed it on the top shelf of our bedroom closet.  It has reduced
    the viewing time and we can more closely moniter what the kids watch
    since they are not allowed in our bedroom by themselves.
    
    	Still, it's not enough.  What works the best (when we can get
    the time) is to actively provide other activities.  We go in cycles,
    but for the most part it's working.
    
    				Tom Vega (another TV to watch)

A recent study by William Dietz of the New England medical Centers in
Boston shows that the number of obese 12- to 17-year-olds increased
39 percent between 1963 and 1980.  Dietz analyzed the results of skinfold
tests taken during that time by the National Health and Nutrition Examiners
Surveys.  Dietz also found that the prevalence of obesity in 6- to 12-year-olds
increased by more than 50 percent during that period.

Dietz attributes much of the increased weight gain to the sedentary nature of
television watching, a theory supported by a 1987 study that found that for
every hour of television a child watches, there is a systematic decline in
physical fitness.  The study's author, Larry Tucker of Auburn University
in Alabama, also found that the teen-agers he studied watched thousands of
commercials a year, many of them for junk food products.  Tucker recommends
that a child's TV time should be regulated to one-hour or less a day.

Health Journal, The Magazine of Matthew Thornton Health Plan, March 1988, p. 4

    When I first became a scoutmaster back in the early seventies I
    noticed that a lot of the kids had little desire for outdoor activities
    and little imagination.  There was a correlation between that and
    the amount of tv they watched.  Not a scientific study, just my
    observation.
    
    My own kids watch a few programs.  Most of the time they would rather
    be doing something else like playing with Legos, going outside,
    or reading.  I even have one young lady (10) that reads rather than
    watch tv unless it's something special, like Nova.  She's half way
    through the BOM.  My own children are a good example for me to follow.
    
    richard

    What we have found valuable with our 5,10,11,12, and 13 year old
    children is to allow them to watch TV only when they have a specific
    show in mind which has already been 'approved' by the family council.
    The TV is rarely on in the evening and it goes off once the desired
    show is over.  If we experiment with a new show my wife or myself
    are present although the kids know when a show is inappropriate
    and at least one of them will bring it up quickly.  We have tried
    very hard to help them realize that TV can convey poor values. 
    The trouble comes with the area of sexual inuendos and nuances
    which may not be fully understood by the younger children.  Many
    sitcoms are chock full of this type of message.  To cure that problem
    we don't watch any sitcom produced in the last 20 years.  That leaves
    shows like 'Leave it to beaver and Mr. Ed' for light entertainment.
    
    This isn't the cure all but we hope that it pays off in terms of
    their moral and societal values
   .
    
    Mike

    Just a quick comment about the TV news -
    
    	I finally stopped listening to the TV and radio news.  Like
    the dear old Dad mentioned, I found I was just getting too depressed!
    Anything of global importance would be related to me by people at
    work or by my husband.  The rest of it I couldn't do anything about
    anyway!
    
    	The only thing that I do watch with any regularity is CNN. 
    Most of it is not the local "Bill Jones was brutally murdered" stories,
    but things of political and social significance that may be useful
    to know.  I heard about the Chilean grapes, for example.  I found
    out that cold fusion may or may not have been achieved.  I found
    out that Lucille Ball had died.  I stopped buying gas at Exxon.
    Other than that, I don't need the rest of it!
    
    	Our family gets nearly all of the pay-TV stations: HBO, SHOWTIME,
    CINEMAX and DISNEY.  The only one I seem to bother to watch is DISNEY.
    Even then, I screen the shows for poor examples.  The Little Toaster
    cartoon was absolutely *horrible*.  It was about appliances.  They
    all had poor attitudes.  I turned it off.
    
    	The rest of our TV watching is confined to public television
    networks, and things like "Discovery Channel" and "Lifetime".
    
    	This has been going on for years and hasn't bothered me.  I've
    seen 2 Cosby episodes, and 1 Hill Street Blues.  That's really all
    of the "popular TV" I've seen in years!
    
    		Sheryl
    

If you're concerned about the effect of TV on your children, the Children's
Television Act of 1990 gives you a way to affect TV programming.

This Act limits TV commercials to be not more than 10.5 minutes/hour on
weekends and not more than 12 minutes/hour on weekdays for children's TV.
In addition, it requires that children's TV "serve the educational and
informational needs of children through the licensee's overall programming,
including programming designed to serve such needs."

The key thing about this Act is that the safeguards to protect our children
are directed against each licensee not against the networks.  This is good,
because it gives us the opportunity to influence whether the station license
is renewed.  Stations stand to lose their license if they violate the Act.
These licenses are sold to new owners for millions--that is just the license,
the station equipment costs more, and the station managers are (should be)
sensitive to this issue.

This Act allows you to do the following:

1.  Call the station manager and express your views of the programming.  Ask
    that your views be logged into the station records that are used as part
    of the license renewal process.  Ask them to read back their version of
    what you just told them so you can satisfy yourself that they recorded
    your true meaning.  These records are part of the official renewal
    procedure.

2.  Ask to see the station's public file.  The intent of the Children's
    Television Act is that information relating to children's programming
    and advertising will be available for public inspection.

3.  Ask the manager what plans the station has to broadcast programs
    specifically designed to meet children's needs.

4.  If the station manager says that the station's practices--running 
    educational public service announcements, participating in community
    events, etc.--fulfill the spirit of the law, point out that the prime
    focus of the legislation is *programs* not practices.

5.  Monitor the length of commercials of children's shows per the limits given
    above.  Let the station manager know if your checks show there are too
    many commercials.

6.  Join with others in this effort.  More voices get more results.

Reference: PTA Today, October 1991, pp. 20-21.

RE: .9

>This Act allows you to do the following:
>
>1.  Call the station manager and express your views of the programming.  Ask
>    that your views be logged into the station records that are used as part
>    of the license renewal process.  Ask them to read back their version of
>    what you just told them so you can satisfy yourself that they recorded
>    your true meaning.  These records are part of the official renewal
>    procedure.

This has always been the case for a number of years, with the exception of 
doing it by means other than a letter.

>2.  Ask to see the station's public file.  The intent of the Children's
>    Television Act is that information relating to children's programming
>    and advertising will be available for public inspection.

This too has been the case for a number of years (1972 rings a bell in my mind
for some reason). In fact, stations can get in ALOT of trouble if you go to
inspect the public file and any of the following happens:

	1) you aren't allowed to see the file or portions of the file during
	   "regular business hours".

	2) you look for a letter you sent and it isn't there -- a letter to the
	   FCC Complaints and Compliance Division will cause some IMMEDIATE
	   action.

	3) you are prevented from obtaining information on the station's owners.
	   Some stations (in fact most around NE) are owned by people or
	   groups that aren't anywhere near New England and can't see what
	   their stations are doing. Many of these stations will go to great
	   lengths to stop you from contacting the owners about problems with
	   the content of the programming.

Depending on who you are and what you are after, be prepared to be hassled,
misdirected, and watched closely at what you look for. Most stations very 
rarely get someone in to look at the public file, so when it does happen, they
assume that it's "something bad".


>3.  Ask the manager what plans the station has to broadcast programs
>    specifically designed to meet children's needs.
>
>4.  If the station manager says that the station's practices--running 
>    educational public service announcements, participating in community
>    events, etc.--fulfill the spirit of the law, point out that the prime
>    focus of the legislation is *programs* not practices.
>
>5.  Monitor the length of commercials of children's shows per the limits given
>    above.  Let the station manager know if your checks show there are too
>    many commercials.

Most of this is law that has been present before the 1990 act. The 1990 act
only really changed the commercial timing and the number of commercials aimed
at children.

The most fun you can have with a "hostile" station is to force the station
renewal process into public hearings. Everyone is permitted to "show cause"
on why or why not the station should continue operating under it's current
management. Unfortunately, given the current state of the regulatory setup
at the FCC, there has only been one instance of the FCC pulling a station 
license for programming problems in the last 12 years, even with numerous
abuses of the public trust, and blatent violations of "journalistic integrity"
(an oxymoron if I've ever seen one).

It has become clear to me over the last few years that the media and 
entertainment industry (and yes, it is one entity) is openly hostile to God's
plan for us. Unfortunately, far too many people just absorb what they see and 
hear and accept it as truth, without any critical thought put into it at all. 
All sheep being led to the slaughter...

Sigh,
Bryan