Operation Television Off Update *Revised*

Well as you know from a previous post, we turned the TV off for 1 month.  Well, we didn't make it that far but we did learn a few important lessons.  Number One is that we did a lot more interacting with each other during the "off" days.  John Arlie had me read so many books that my throat hurt in the evenings.  The house was quiet (duh) but it was a different kind of quiet.  It was all nice!  Number Two is that I have learned that "no TV" can have many different meanings to individual families so we have to decide as our own family what that means.  In my mind when I hear "we have no TV in our house" I assume there is not a television in the house.  It actually can mean..."we have a tv but don't turn it on except once in a blue moon" or "we have a tv and watch it but have no cable service" or "we only watch tv certain days of the week".  Now I understand what that actually means.  Still a little confusing but oh well.  We have made some decisions on how and what we will view as a family and individually in the Brewer household and this is what we have decided we will tell people if the conversation ever arises....
"Yes we do have TV and we watch it." BUT.....We have guidelines.  We watch uplifting educational programming for no more than a couple hours a day. We don't allow our child to view anything that will destroy his brain cells or make him turn into a criminal :)  We don't watch anything that takes the Spirit out of our home.  
There will always be exceptions on the hours and only on the hours (NO EXCEPTIONS on the "what we watch part")  like Holiday shows that come on and date night movie night or any other kind of excuse I can come up with (hahaha)!  We aren't gonna be all crazy fanatic about it all.  That's nuts!  But we do need to get a grip on just how much and what we are watching!  I don't want to hurt my family in anyway!
Especially my son who needs to keep all his brains so he can take care of his old fart parents when he grows up and becomes a doctor. 
So we set guidelines and stick with them. 

Here are some really good talks and articles that helped bring this decision into our home:

Effects of Television by Boyd K Packer (general conference talk)

Controlling The Media's Influence In Your Home (Liahona)

What's On TV Tonight? (Ensign Article)

It's Only Violence (Ensign Article)

On a final note, we do not judge anyone on how or what they watch, because we think everyone can decide what they want to do and it's not right for us to think we are right and no other way is the right way.  There are many right ways and that decision is left up to individual families. I'm just sharing what we learned from our TV Off Project.  :)