A lot of people know that Steve has given up watching television and I’ve received a lot of requests asking if I plan to give it up as well. The short answer is, no, I’m not planning to give it up, and here’s why.
I wrote a previous blog entry about Why I Never Watch the News, and I still don’t watch it. It’s negative, social conditioning, designed to instill fear. I only watch shows that I actually want to see, and try never to turn on the tv just to see what’s on.
Television is a medium. It’s a communication tool. Right now I think it’s being used to instill a lot of fear in people, and it’s also being used to socially condition us to buy things or do things. But television itself, as a medium, is not inherently bad. It is an effective way to disseminate information very quickly to a large number of people. If television was used as a tool to help bring our planet and people together, I would feel better about its use.
Recently my daughter started watching Nickelodeon. The shows on this station are horrid! I watched episodes of Jimmy Neutron and Fairly Odd Parents and I was shocked by what they are teaching our children. Namely, to ditch school, to defy their parents, to form cliques, to make fun of others, and worse. The reason I was so shocked to see this was because previously, all she ever watched was Noggin. I happen to love Noggin, whose slogan is “Like preschool, on TV.” The shows on Noggin are pretty good. They teach children to love, be compassionate, how to make friends, how to have good manners, to be kind, and how to be fair. Many shows call for interactions from the kids, as they teach them about colors, shapes, how to tell time, how to be nice to your siblings, etc.
I stopped letting my daughter watch Nick and have moved her back to Noggin. She has no idea what a Power Ranger is. Recently, she was at a school party and they’d invited two Power Rangers to do a demonstration with the kids. My daughter was the only one that didn’t know what a Power Ranger was. She also doesn’t know what Bratz are. And I’m glad. I don’t know how long that will last, but I’m happy right now. She watches just a few hours of television per week, which I know is way better than average. She, herself, much prefers to play with her little brother, go treasure hunting in the backyard, pretend to use her magical powers to fly, or dance and make up songs in the living room.
One reason I watch television is that I need a way to ground myself at the end of the day. I’ve heard both John Holland and John Edward say that after doing mediumship for an entire day they have to bring themselves back down to earth and they do that by drinking caffeine, watching television, and having some sugar. I’ve had days where I’ve been on the outer planes for upwards of 8 hours and I can tell you that at the end of a long day like that, I need to come down a few levels myself!
So what shows do I watch? Okay, this may surprise you. 😉 Here is my list:
- Charmed (before it was cancelled)
- Supernatural
- Smallville
- Medium
- Ghost Whisperer
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (before it was cancelled)
- Angel (before it was cancelled)
- Lost
See a pattern? Okay okay, I can’t help it! I love shows with a paranormal bent to them. I’m glad those shows are on so they get people accustomed to the paranormal. I know they’re not “real” but I know they’re based on real things. I think fiction is an ingenious way to make people aware of things they wouldn’t otherwise learn about on their own.
There’s another reason why I watch those types of shows and that’s because I’m interested in writing a tv series myself. Or a book, or a movie. One of my goals is to use fiction to explain a lot of what I talk about in my blog, because fiction is so easily swallowed. Try doing a documentary about communicating with spirits and see how many people tune in. But create a show like Medium or Ghost Whisperer and people are there! There are so many things I think people on our planet need to be aware of. If no one else is going to write about them, I will.
