Time for a TV Turn-off?

You may not think of yourself as a rebel, but if you’re watching TV this week, you’re working against the efforts of Robert Kesten and his team at the TV-Turnoff Network, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that's behind “Turn Off Your TV Week,” which is going on this week. Citing stats and quotes from a wide array of sources, the organization encourages parents to restrict television viewing for their kids, citing research that television is responsible for everything from child obesity to limiting intelligence potential.

The movement has won support and the endorsement of dozens of powerful organizations, such as the American Medical Association, National Education Association, National Medical Association, and literacy groups such as Reading Is Fundamental.

T.S. Eliot, poet and author, once opined, “The remarkable thing about television is that it permits several million people to laugh at the same joke and still feel lonely.”

From the floor of the Senate, these words rang out: “They have certainly won my support and my hearty endorsement. Hallelujah! Turn off that TV... I do want to emphatically stress that there is much more to life than the boring, degrading, demeaning fare on the boob tube. I urge the American people to use this week to break your addiction to television. Just say no! As the TV-Turnoff Network urges, 'Turn off TV, turn on life.'” –Senator Byrd, D-West Virginia.

The movement has also garnered support from those who’ve profited from the dreaded TV, including CNN/TBS’s Ted Turner, who once said, “TV is the single most significant factor contributing to violence in America.”

Perhaps you’re concerned that American children may spend more time in front of the television than in school this year. Perhaps it strikes you as odd that 40% of Americans regularly watch television during dinner. Perhaps you’d like to reflect more about this…

…but “24” is coming on, then the Clippers, the news, Leno, Conan. I gotta go. Tomorrow comes early!