It has been re-published and updated few times since, but I think it is amazing how the thoughts of Edward Dayton, in his book Tools for Time Management, that were written to my parents and their generation, are still so relevant today — if not even more so.
He talks about how he has never seen a book or article on managing your time that talks about TV. Back then, when he wrote the book, remember we’re talking about 1974 here, his claim was that the average adult watched about 20 hours of TV a week.
Most people in the western world still let the TV consume about four hours of their day. In the United States, it is double that.
This guy, Edward Dayton, back in 1974, said that some of the greatest times in his home were when the TV set was in for repair, although even back then, it would seem that the battle of the tube was fought with the kids — he did say that they did have trouble keeping their kids from sneaking next door to watch it there.
So what did he have to say about watching TV?
Well, on the good side, “It can be entertaining, relaxing and informing”.
Becoming engrossed in something entirely different from the business of life may be just the ticket for some emotional relief.
But on the negative side, he said that TV “takes an exorbitant amount of time that could be invested in other areas”.
He said, and don’t forget, this book was written nearly 40 years ago, that TV “over-entertains us to the point of saturation”.
He added that it “dulls our senses and warps our view of life ... it keeps us away from friends, books and stimulating ideas”.
But with TV now taking such a big part of lives, what do we do about it?
And I think the solution of 1974 is still just as applicable today. We actually need to schedule how much TV exposure we’re going to tolerate each week.
Interesting that Edward Dayton used the word tolerate, huh? Cos, he goes on to say that, “... for the family which have been trained to accept the average, low-vitamin fare served by TV daily, it translates into an entire way of life”.
By Tim Sisarich, Executive Director of Focus on the Family,
Copyright © 2009 Focus on the Family. All rights reserved.
