Believe it or not, I grew up in a house without a TV. We only got a TV when my older sister gave one as a gift to my parents. That was just a couple of years back.
Unimaginable to many, we never really got bored even without a TV. My sister and I grew up with books and there”s always the neighbour”s house every time we felt like watching cartoons or MacGyver. That doesn”t mean that we didn”t occasionally pester my parents to get one. My mother was always adamant about not getting one though and we never won.
Growing up without a TV had its advantages: we always got our homework done soon as we got home since there was no TV to lure us; we fell in love with books, which honed our imaginations and I guess our writing skills as well; we learned how to be more creative since we couldn”t just plop down in front of the TV to while away time; and we grew very close with the family across the street since we spent “TV time” with them.
It also had its disadvantages though. One of the things I hated about it was not being able to get some jokes because I rarely saw the TV commercials my classmates were so fond of imitating and couldn”t join in their lengthy discussions about their favorite TV shows. This is probably why I usually pay more attention to commercials than most people. It also
sharpened my memory so that after watching one episode of a TV series I would be able to memorize the characters I saw and deduce the plot so it would seem like I watched the show pretty regularly.
As I see my dad and mom enjoying the TV in our old house I realized that TV has more perks than I used to give it credit. My parents now spend more time together since they love to watch DVD copies of TV series that we bring home (they don”t have an antenna or cable and just watch DVDs) and get animated when I ask them about the latest episode of Prison Break that they saw. My little cousin who lives with us also got into Taekwondo after seeing old Jet Li films. I have come to realize that TV time can translate into quality time with your family. Forget about what people say about important shows and what you can learn from TV. They are really nice perks but I believe that the fun it can inject in a family is its biggest advantage. I am still a firm believer in controlled TV time and now that I have my own family we still don”t have a TV…yet. We plan on buying one pretty soon though.