Say No to Screen Time – 8 Reasons to Smash the Tv

In the age of binge-watching and extra screen time, our decision to not have a television in our home is alien to most. We’ve even declined a few free tv offers from friends. We often get the “oh, you’re one of thoooose people” look when we say our home is one without a tv. This choice we have made as a family is wildly unpopular and leads some to ask,

“Are televisions bad?”

Our answer is this. We desire to raise a family that loves one another. We seek to encourage our children to be doers, to create, to ask questions, to explore. And while we believe that a tv is not in and of itself inherently bad, we do believe that tv and excessive screen time can be harmful. Here is why.

Watching TV steals countless hours of your precious time

The average person spends 5 hours a day watching tv. 5 hours! That adds up 76 full, 24 hour days of television watching in a year. Two out of twelve months, quite literally down the tube. This alone is a huge reason to cut back on screen time. Can you imagine what you could do with two entire months of extra time? Maybe we would have time to pursue a hobby that we enjoy. Or maybe we could dedicate more time to keeping our homes neat and orderly.

Time is arguably one of our most precious gifts. We never get it back once it is gone. There are no do-overs. Don’t you want to make sure you spend it on the things that are actually important?

You spend lots of mental energy rehashing what you saw on tv

Not only do we waste time while actually watching tv, but we also waste countless hours thinking about what we saw on tv. We wonder what will happen in the next episode, we think back on and remember the different parts of last nights movie, we obsess over our favorite characters and scenes.

This slight obsession actually crowds out space in our mental capacity to focus. You will be distracted during the day which will hurt our productivity. We all know it’s nearly impossible to get anything done while distracted.

Increased exposure to synthetic light

The blue light in all televisions, phones, and tablets can damage our eyes. Eye fatigue, headaches, and brain fog all result from too much screen time. With the average adult getting 10 hours of screen time a day, and the average child getting 6 hours a day, one can only imagine the amount of strain our eyes have to endure.

Too much screen time results in not only less sleep but a less restful sleep as well. Sleep is so important for our bodies to regenerate new cells, heal, and grow. Especially for our ever-growing children!

Less interaction amongst family 

There is something special about gathering the family for a fun, popcorn filled movie night. But when everyone is busy watching a movie, no one is talking to or interacting with each other. It’s not a bad thing every once in a while, but too many movie nights will crowd out the crucial bonding time a close-knit family needs to thrive.

Family game nights are a great alternative. You still get to have popcorn, and the whole family will be able to engage with and converse with each other. We enjoy games that require a little bit of strategy to encourage learning. Blokus, one of our family favorites, is a great one for kids around the age of 5 or 6.

Increased exposure to violence 

Our biggest reason for skipping the tv in our home is the fact that most movies and shows are filled with violence. Bullying, hate, racism, fighting, death, terror, anger, divisiveness, self-harm… these can be found in nearly all shows and movies. After a while, one becomes desensitized to such things.

We are striving to teach our daughter to love others and to honor God. So why would we fill her mind with these terrible things? Why would we expose her to death so much that it begins to feel normal to her? Why do we let our children watch movies that promote exclusion, then are surprised when we see them bullying their peers?

Stifled creativity 

As I touched on in this previous post, we should be nurturing our child’s creativity and curiosity. I know it’s all too easy to turn on the tv for a couple of minutes of screen time when we need a few minutes of quiet time. But by setting our kids in front of the tv all the time, we are simply entertaining them. We are not teaching them to think, to ask questions, or to create.

A great alternative is establishing a quiet time routine. Give the younger kids some blocks to play with, and the older ones a book to read. It will engage their creative side and still give you some much needed quiet time.

Dissatisfaction with your present situation  

We have a knack for looking around at what everyone else is doing and at what everyone else has. When we look back at ourselves, we suddenly think that we could be happy if we only had a nice new car like so and so has. The same is true for tv watching, especially now that we are bombarded with advertisements.

We see fictional lives portrayed on the screen and we wish we ours could be more like their lives. We wish we could look more like them and have what they have. Those subconscious thoughts are like poison to our happiness. We as adults are not immune to this, and our children are even more susceptible.

There you have it, eight reasons why you should just carry the tube outside and give it a good smashing. 😉

Now, with that being said, I do want you to know that my husband and I do occasionally watch a movie. Redbox is a great option for us. Their movies rent for a dollar a day, and there are convenient pickup and drop off locations at several pharmacies and grocery stores. We also watch an occasional movie through Amazon Prime as well.

When we do watch tv, we strive to be intentional about it.

Next time you go to turn on the tv, ask yourself these four questions. 

1. Is there something else I need to be doing? 
2. Am I watching this movie because I actually am interested in it, or am I just passing time? 
3. Have I neglected to spend quality time with my family today?
4. Can I learn anything from this show? 

If your answers are iffy to any of those questions, chances are you should skip it. 

Let me know how you feel about your current tv watching habits. Do you think they need a little bit of reevaluating?

Any other mama’s out there who run a tvless home? What was your biggest reason for making that decision?