Reply #16: I definitely avoid them

[northernlights]

I watch very little tv anymore. I can't stand to have the news on with all the screeching and yelling. I keep the volume turned down low and suffer through long enough to get the weather forecast so I'll know if I need to water any baby plants or to plan outings around blizzards. That's about it. I did have it on the other night and was amazed at the craziness of the coverage of the swine, excuse me ;), H1N1 flu.

One thing I noticed is that even if there is a loud argument during a "family" type program, Jakey will hang his head and leave the room.

One thing we learned in my anatomy class last year is that the "primal" brain (I think the temporal lobe? or deeper, in the middle?) can't tell the difference between reality and fiction. So when we subject ourselves to violence in movies or on teevee, that part of our brain sees it as actually happening and triggers all the physiological responses as if it were happening. Watching violence literally changes our brains, how we think, how we perceive, etc.

So it's extremely unhealthy in all respects -- physical, emotional, spiritual, totality, to subject ourselves to it.

The more I don't watch, the harder time I have on the rare occasion that I do. I think by June 12, I'll be totally weaned :)