Exercise Two- TV Concerns

Growing up, television in my household wasn’t a big deal. As an advanced student nearly my whole life, homework and studying always came first. When I actually got a chance to watch TV, of course my parents influenced, or practically controlled what I watched. Growing up, I was allowed to watch only educational shows and movies. Shows I was allowed to watch contained a lot of information a young child could pick up on, such as Reading Rainbow, Arthur, Sesame Street, Disney, Mr. Rodgers (RIP L), the Magic School Bus, and Barney.
Television was definitely looked at as a harmful thing in my household. Even when I finished my homework and studied, my parents would tell me to go play with my toys. Of course, all the toys they bought me were mind stimulating, therefore even when I was playing, I was learning.
Growing up, TV took a bigger part in my life. I began to care about the news, whether, and a few preteen shows and movies here and there. Though I began watching TV a little more, my parents still made sure I was on top of my education. I can remember a time where my report card contained all A’s, and only one B+. My parents were very upset with my progress in school so they took the TV out of my room. I worked harder than ever to raise my B+ to an A just so I could watch my weekly show, 7th Heaven.
Today, I have little or no time for TV. Occupied with schoolwork, family, my sorority, friends, and church, whenever I get a spare second, I sleep since I don’t get much of it.
My family has, in fact, influenced the way I view TV. While TV can be very educational and informative, it is very addicting and takes away from me doing other valuable things with my time. Instead of watching TV, I could better myself by going to the gym, studying, and working to pay for my education. As Michael Leboeuf once said, “Waste your money and you’re only out of money, but waste your time and you’ve lost a part of life.”