Sent: Monday, July 21, 2003 10:08 PM
To: kaufman@turnoffyourtv.com
Subject: No TV for 5 Years
Hi,
I just stumbled upon your web site. We moved 5 years ago and I did not know
what cable company to call. After realizing that my boys(ages 10 and 7) and
husband came to the table a little faster for dinner I decided not to locate
the cable company. We have not had off air TV for 5 Years. We have a TV for
Video or DVD's and a computer but the boys do not have log ins for IM. They
spend a lot of time out playing with friends. They are very good readers. They
are very normal Boys and the lack of TV has not made them standout from the
kids they hang out with.
Just thought I would share
Rosemary
Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2003 4:10 PM
To: kaufman@netreach.net
Ron,
Thanks for your reply. Have you read the book Telecosm by George Gilder?
In it he really rips television as a real time waster etc. Here is the best
quote..
"You sit down on a couch in front of a screen, to watch degrading and
titillating lowest common-denominator trivia, scheduled for you in some
netherworld between Madison Avenue, the FCC and Hollywood, offering a sordid
stream of sleazy banalaties, gun grunge, bedroom mayhem, and offal
innuendos, some preening as "news" and some leering as entertainment,
for as
much as seven hours a day, on average, consuming perhaps two thirds of your
disposable time, year after year, all in order to grab your eyeballs for a
few minutes of artfully crafted advertising images that you don't want to
see, of products you will never buy."
Beautiful, huh? By the way, our family cancelled our cable TV 2 months ago
and it really is excellent! I found you site while looking for others with
the same feeling about television.
Brian
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2003 1:43 PM
To: kaufman@turnoffyourtv.com
Subject: GREAT SITE!
Dear Sir:
I'm glad you are out there! A career-long public educator, I have been without
a television since 1974, when I left home for college at 18. The effects of
television on learning, family, and our society are profound and all negative.
Family friend, Marie Winn, wrote one of the truly definitive books on this subject
that was recently revised and re-released called, The Plug-in Drug. I am sure
you know the book.
My short list of television-related concerns includes: the alarming rise, during my career, of learning disabilities, ADHD and mood disorders in young children; the observable disintegration of family structures; and the concomitant precipitous drop in moral development (social language and conscience) in young children. It is a pathetic irony that television news corporate interests so greedily pimp graphic examples of the very moral decay that the medium itself promulgates, e.g. school shootings, the recent powderpuff football debacle in Illinois and on and on....
Good luck with your work. Keep it up!
Steve Kennedy
Sent: Sunday, January 05, 2003 6:25 PM
To: kaufman@netreach.net
Subject: KYTV
I have never been the type to adopt a cause, but I promote the idea of "killing
the television" whenever I get a chance. Having grown-up a latch-key kid,
I spent most of my youth glued to the tube, mindlessly absorbing the filtered
messages of advertisements and the skewed entertainment of the self-serving
networks. Even in college, I always had the TV on. The background sound comforted
me in someway...it was my friend!
Not until my first child was born did I begin to notice how detrimental television exposure was. I was astonished when my toddler knew ad jingles as well as she knew the ABC song. It was disgusting to me to see our beautiful, energetic child become frozen and glass eyed in front of cartoons. Even the "educational" shows turned her into a zombie.
Something had to be done.
At first it was very hard for me, because my husband and I had to set an example. There were so many shows that I thought I couldn't live without, but slowly we narrowed our viewing. Last spring I finally cut out my last "gotta see show", and surprisingly, our life continues!! In fact, our life is even better. I feel much more confidence in myself and life choices.
Television can make you believe that everything is beautiful and easy, but the reality is work and relationships are hard, things get messy and ugly and sometimes even boring.
This disenchantment was not depressing, it was liberating.
Now, we have very limited television viewing, and we are all happier! Because of this, I often find myself sharing our television principles with unsuspecting friends and family who innocently ask me "Have you seen that new show...?".
Please continue to spread the word, KYTV is a great informative website!!
Angela Holland
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 12:03 PM
To: 'kaufman@turnoffyourtv.com'
Subject: My TV Died
Just thought you would like to know...
Ok it died but it was actually assassinated. It died a cruel unceremonious death. It was thrown by me Joseph Toro to its doom at the bottom of a particularly rank 20 yard dumpster behind the local supermarket. The only thing better than this was throwing the VCR in first. To my great disappointment a box lessened what was hoped to be a dramatic crashing sound as it impacted the steel dumpster bottom. This disappointment quickly passed as the TV arced gracefully into the gaping maw of the dumpster and landed corner first piercing the VCR and shattering both bodies with a resonating CLONG! I clambered up the side of the steel box and looked upon the carcasses without remorse, slid into the driver seat of my car, turned on WPKN our "listener ONLY supported radio station" and drove away with a clean conscience. Thus ended my TV watching days not so long ago this spring.
My wife Kelli said to me the other night " You know Joe, I don't really miss the TV, in fact I quite like it now that it's gone". I love my wife and now we snuggle more on the couch without being disturbed....it is a very good thing. I even finished a book of Faulkner that I had been planning to read for such a long time.
Peace,
Joe Toro AKA TV Assassin
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 7:19 PM
To: kaufman@netreach.net
Subject: TV HAD CAPTURED THE MINDS OF MY FAMILY!!!!
My mom and dad come home from work and sit in front of the television. My 9-yr.-old
brother, the first thing he does when he comes home from school is to . . .
. watch television. My brother has got to be the worst. He saved up his money
and bought his own Television set! He's only 9-yrs.-old and and the evil thing
is in his room! AAAHHHH! He watches it AAALLLLL the time and soon as he comes
home from school and AAAALLLL weekend! (Plus he plays video games on
it.) We got him a dog and the poor thing cries and cries and howls at the lonely
sky because my brother is 'too busy' to play with him. It's sooooo sad! He's
such a sweet and loving and playful puppy! My brother wanted the dog so badly,
but is reluctant to take responsibility for it.
We have 3 TVs in our house with satellite! Scary, isn't it? We don't have
'family time' (whatever that is) and we never have dinner together. Communication
is almost down to nil. When I go to relax, I usually sit in my room and read
a book. I also read because I want to learn, and the TV just doesn't give me
enough information to feed my curious brain.
I really wish I could throw away all the TV sets. (no, wait . . . I'd SMASH
them first!) I think it would be so freeing not to hear the constant noise that
eminates from the 'idiot box'.
I am convinced that the TV is evil and that it has captured the minds of my
family members will not cease to let go its iron grip.
I like writing and reading and going for walks in the forest. And I like people
. . . but people don't seem to like me all that much. One reason must be because
I don't really keep up with 'popular culture' (in which I regard a kitcsh!).
'Pop' culture is soooo mundane. Life is soooo much more that television . .
. I wish my family (esp. my little
brother) would come to realize that.
How can I get my brother away from the television? He has no love of learning, his grades (all of them, but especially reading and spelling) are really low, and he never wants to do his homework! I will ask him if he did his homework and he'll say 'yes', but that's almost always a lie. When dad and I find out he's lying, we tell him to do his homework, but he whines and says: "But I'm watching my favorite show." That ALWAYS his excuse! It's ALWAYS his 'favorite' show! Whatever shall I do? It all seems so hopeless!
-SYNTARSUS
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 12:58 AM
To: kaufman@turnoffyourtv.com
Subject: Wow...nice to have "met" you...
I'm a 33 yr. old mom of two children, ages 12 months and soon-to-be 3 yrs. I
do not allow them to watch ANY television, OR videos. I am continually amazed
at the "given" nature of people's relationships with their television
sets...and their complete dependence on them. Few things disgust and sadden
me more then to walk into a child's room that contains a box. Bad enough that
it's on constantly in the "family" room, the kitchen, etc. I just
don't get it.
One place that I've found some kindred spirits on this is with followers of
the Waldorf
schools (philos. of Rudolf Steiner). There I was told that IT IS THE NORM THAT
ALL CHILDREN (in their schools) DO NOT WATCH ANY TV...if your family did then
your child would be an outcast. I find this to be almost hard to believe in
this day and age.
I am so intrigued with this topic; I really have a lot of research to do and your site has helped immensely. I have checked out the "turn-off network", and have two Sandra Boynton shirts which always get me a few strange looks.
Many thanks!
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 9:56 PM
To: kaufman@turnoffyourtv.com
Subject: me, too
Dear Mr. Kaufman,
As a kid in the late 60s and into the 70s, I watched more TV than I should have
been allowed. Before my daughter was born in 1992, I tried to watch a few shows
like "Homicide." I only saw about every fourth show. Since my daughter
was born, I have not plopped myself down in front of the tube. It has been 11
years now and I have not missed it one bit. When I am in the same room with
a TV on, I find it disturbing, not only to my thinking process, but also to
my outlook. I am saddened because people can sit there and be numbed by the
device. The sound of canned laughter in insulting. Enough ranting or venting.
Thanks for the site. I enjoyed it. Off to walk the dog around the neighborhood
and shake my head at all of the windows lit by the changing bluish light of
TVs.
MJ