TV Or NOT TV III

Devorah, The Lone Ortho, gives her take on the TV issue.

I certainly commend those who have pulled the plug in their own homes. However, I get a bit annoyed when people use owning a TV as some sort of religious litmus test. Now in addition to asking what kind of tablecloth you use on Shabbos, the new standard seems to be whether or not you would watch TV. Now, I’ve certainly been posed sillier questions. But I guess I don’t consider it to be a “make-it-or-break-it” issue. Though I’m not intent on having a TV in my house, I wouldn’t nix a guy just because might want one. It just seems a bit too trivial.

But here’s the part that really got under my skin. A friend of mine told me that if you’re someone who’s not anti-TV, but could certainly live without one, you have to lie and say you wouldn’t allow a TV in your home under any circumstances, since the boys comparable to you are also instructed to lie. That’s how the game works, period. Sigh…

I hadn't thought about the TV issue in that way, as a religious litmus test. I guess if you are younger and in the shidduch phase of life these issues rear their ugly heads.

A few more of my own thoughts while I'm on the topic.

This issue can be approached from two directions, as it says in the 34th chapter of Tehillim, "Sur Mai'rah V'aseih Tov" (Run from evil and do good deeds). While I could (and might one day) go on and on about all the negatives of the having a TV, it isn't even necessary to go there. I think it is more persuasive to talk about the positive aspects of not having a TV (And, indeed, this is really the thrust of Chava Willig Levy's article).

Before we ditched the TV, my watching habits were limited mainly to sports (mostly baseball and hockey; I like hockey so much I would even watch a game between the Saskatchawan Hoboes and the Alberta Aligators) and a few of the 10 p.m. shows. Since we ditched the TV I have learned more, I have read WAY more, I have spoken with my children more and, mainly, MHW and I have had much more time to actually talk to one another.

And that is just me. Our children have benefitted in incalculable ways. There is a quiet and calmness that pervades our home that never existed before.

Do I miss the sports? I still listen to an inning or two of the Yankees on the radio and find I enjoy listening to games as much as watching them. After a few months, I stopped missing the hockey. Do I miss the 10 p.m. dramas? Actually, I can't believe I wasted so much time over the years watching that silly stuff.

Do my kids miss it? My daughters not at all. My younger son misses the sports and watches an occasional game at friends' houses.

When people ask me, I tell them that ditching the TV will change your lives for the better in ways you can't even imagine. I also tell young couples (when they ask; I am not a missionary on this issue) to begin their lives together without a TV and, if they already have one, to get rid of it before they start a family.

So, to Devorah, I would say, while perhaps it shouldn't be a religious litmus test, it is far from trivial.