Entertainment

Ten Steps to Control TV in Your Home

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Al Menconi
President, Al Menconi Ministries
December 11, 2000

Hosea 7:8 "My people mingle with the heathen, picking up their evil ways, thus they become as good-for-nothing as a half-baked cake!" (Living Translation)

There is so much that I could share about the negative influence of television on our families. But it has all been said before by people more articulate than I. I'm going to assume you already know the power and influence of television on your family and you are ready to do something about it. The following are ten suggestions that have proven to be successful with our family:

Get your television out of your "living" room. Put it in the "death" room. In other words, put it in a room where it isn't convenient to watch. This will keep you from coming home and turning on the television because there isn't anything else to do. If the television is not convenient to watch, you'll be less likely to waste so much time watching programs that rob you of time with your family.
Only have one television in the house. I'm sure you are aware that families who watch a lot of television have a difficult time communicating. If there is more than one television in the house, it is adding fuel to the "poor communication" fire. Whenever a family member doesn't want to watch what the family is watching, he can isolate himself even more by watching "his program" in another part of the house.
Only watch with a mature adult present. This is crucial when a program or situation comes on that is against your family's values. A mature adult needs to be there to counterbalance the attack. He or she might even have to turn off the television if it happens more than once.
Read the TV Guide at the beginning of the week and circle the programs your family can watch if they have nothing better to do. This allows each family member an opportunity to express his opinion and desires. You'll be surprised what you will learn about your family by the type of program they want to watch.
Only watch the programs that you circled at the beginning of the week. This will keep you from turning on the television when you get home from work and wasting the whole evening watching programs that are worthless and you didn't like in the first place.
Turn off the television when it offends you. Don't change the channel. You already decided on what you were going to watch at the beginning of the week. If you allow yourself to change channels instead of turning it off, you will end up going from an offensive show to one that is less offensive—not to a worthwhile program. If it was worthwhile, you would have selected it at the beginning of the week.
Do another activity. I can't believe the number of people who have asked me what should they do if they don't watch television. Talk to your spouse and/or children. Play. Read. Go for a walk. Write a book. Volunteer to help the needy. What did your grandparents do, before we decided we needed to be entertained to death?
The next week, circle the programs again you will watch with your family. (This is a repeat of #4)
Turn off the offending programs. (This is a repeat of #6)
Don't circle programs that have two offenses. You can assume that it was a mistake the first time the program offended you. The second time, you can assume that it is a concerted effort to undermine your family values.

After following the above suggestions for a few weeks, our family's television viewing was cut to just a few hours a week. If we can change, so can you.