Is there anything wrong with cutting out electronic media completely?
Q: My parents didn’t have a TV in the house when I was growing up and I didn’t get a stereo until I was a teenager. We read and played outside and I didn’t think I was deprived as a kid. I’m ashamed to say that I watched “General Hospital” every day my freshman year of college, even scheduling classes around it, but I don’t watch much TV now. It seems like what is out there now, in terms of violence, sex, and taking risks, is far worse than when I was a kid. Is there anything wrong with just cutting out electronic media completely from my kids’ lives? –Staying Sane in Seattle in Seattle, WADear Staying Sane, It sounds like your parents were concerned about what you might learn and how you might be changed by the media you used – and responded to their concern by avoiding media altogether. Since they had little information about media effects, they went with their gut feeling. But we know a lot more now than they did then, both about the nature of media effects and the long-term effect
