The box, the tube, the telly...
Call it what you will, television
is,
_with rare exception, a part of -
our lives.
We watch it — or do we?
- It affects behavior — or does it?
These are questions teachers,,
among others, ask —
as they ponder if it’s better. .
"= Saskatchewan Bulletin.

The Northwest Community
College English Department and
Learning Resource Centre, the
Terrace Public Library’ and
School District #88 are inviting
everyone in the area to pull the
plug on their television sets for
one week..
whole new way of life.

by Betty Barton |

Ask. yourself,. they say, ‘Are
you addicted to television? Can
you do it?’’ From Feb. 5 to 11,
various activities have been
scheduled to help everyone
enrich the experience of a week
without television.

Pull the Plug Week is being
called an opportunity for adults

to experience ° a ;

and-children alike to experience

some time away from the in-_
_ fluence of television.

Dr. Richard Schwier, a

‘to enhance children’s acquisition

and facility in language until

about Grade 4, at which point
some ‘‘negative effects click in’’.

Why Grade 4? He reports the -

language of most programs is

. geared to that level of under-
standing and so, once you’re -

over that hump, you aren’t be-

_ing challenged by. television any

. more, Performance in math, not
just language, appears to be af--
-fected by television viewing.

Teachers have noted that chil-

dren have an intolerance for the

slower, uninterrupted pace of
the classrom since the advent of
television. Teachers who have
taught for a long time tell us that
children today require more
stimulation, more changes,
more variety, more movement
and more activity in the
classroom, just to keep their at-

tention’ so they can be taught

something,

And 2
Teasons to unplug besides more
‘time, especially for the young.

| TV: watching usually cuts into
_ University of Saskatchewan pro- _.
fessor, points out that. TV seems.

reading time; you must read to
write well and some young peo-

ple are watching too’much dur-.
ing their formative years and are ~
not writing well. TV watching is.
inordinately influential, even ad-

there are> two’. major:

Terrace Review — Wednesday, January 31,1990 B5

‘of TV lying in bed at night.

@ Put the TV in the least invit-

‘ing room, or in one which you
- have to go outside to reach, Just

the temperature outside will
probably reduce your television
consumption incredibly...

@ Turn on the stereo or radio if
you need background sound. It
will cut down the amount of TV

addictive. |

ent)

dictive. -

us in January’s Our Family that

night will, .by the end of his or
her life, have listened: to and
seen three solid years of ad-
vertising alone’. So we are very
influenced by the values of con-

sumerism as it is put through:

advertising.

Some ways that you can try to
kick the habit, at least for a
week are:

‘@ Remove TV’s from _bed-
rooms. Many people watch a lot

Facts, figures, statistics -
and a Cal student survey.

Contributed by Devon Kulper

Television sets are found in
almost every Canadian home. In
a 1987 poll by Statistics Canada,
98.5 percent of 9,556 households
owned television sets.. The only
two household items that. out-
numbered TY’s were radios and
refrigerators. |

When . someone . is bored,
television is often what that per-
son resorts.to. With a flick of a
‘Switch he or she can see the news

of the day or even a rock video. .
: Felevision gives us plenty of

entertainment and provides us
_ with much-needed information.
-It opens up a viewing portal,
which lets us see things that a.

radio can only describe. This,

allows for a better presentation
of the faets or the story: Enter-
tainment is probably TV’s big-
gest use. Most of television’s
programming is aimed at enter-
tainment. If it wasn’t for the en-
tertainment aspect then TV
wouldn’t be as popular as it is.

Many people don’t. realize
how powerful television .is. For

‘some people (‘‘couch pota- -

toes’’), TV has become a way of
life. Television can be so inviting
that people forget about the.
other things that life has to of-
fer. If a person spends most of

.the- day in. front: of the TV set,.

_then that individual is getting no
exercise. If this keeps up, the
body will get out of shape.

This isn't the only thing that
television can do though. Some
people, especially young kids,
portray their lavorite television

characters. This often involves
violence; they don’t realize that
their TV. character is not a real
person. One more thing. that.

.television can do is lead‘ people

into things. If a very popular TV
star were to endorse some sort of
product, then some. people
would buy it just because of the
TV star, no matter if they need-
ed it or not. Some commercial
producers use subliminal
messages to get people. to .buy.
things. When this -method is

used, a person suddenly: finds.
the preduct appealing for no.ap- .

parent reason. Something that.
was hidden in.the commercial.

(subliminal message).was picked
up by the person’s subconscious.

Essentially, the commercial is
playing with the viewer’s mind.

Television, of course, is good -

in many ways. TV shows. like

‘Sesame Street are great for kids

who are young and learning. It is
a good. source of information,
Channels like the Knowledge
Network are great: for learning
things. If people don’t over use
television, then it is a good.
household source of entertain-
ment and information. Try and
imagine what it would be like
without television. We use it for
so many things, but people
should give themselves a break
once and a while.

1 am looking forward to not -

watching TV for a week. | watch.
on, average about 25. hours of
television each week; it occupies
a lot of my time and sometimes

it affects work that I have to do,

especially “homework ‘from. .
school. This week without televi- .

sion is going to be great because

Vl get a chance to catch up on

some work that has been sitting
idle for.a couple of. weeks, | also

plan to catch up-on some exer-—
cise, but all this won’t be easy. 1 -

watch so much TV that I’m go-
ing to have a tough time, -but.
once | get going it won't be so.

hard. Who. know, ‘maybe this

week is just the start of some-.

_ thing good. A couple of months
ago I went without. junk food |

for, one week. Since then’ my
junk food intake has dropped
quite a bit.. Maybe I can. bring
my television habits under con-
trol as well.

A.recent poll of Caledonia

high school students had some
interesting results.

We polled 162 students whose

households had a total of 360
TV's. a
Average. total of hours _
- TV viewIng —
“Oto 10... 94(58 percent); [Oto
20... 42 (26 percent); 20 to 30...
23 (14 percent); 30+... 3 (@ per-

cent).
Reasons for TV viewing

Entertainment only... 69 (43
percent); information only... 1!

(0.1 percent); b both... 86 (53 per-_

cent).

How often do you
watch the news?
Daily... 69 (43 percent); once
per week... 55 (34 percent); once
per month... 14 (9 percent);
never... 10 (6 percent).

. Sister Mary.Jo o- Leddy reininds

- viewing and save on electricity.

Did you know that it costs $1.75

that . per month to. watch six hours of
“the average person who watch- —

es TV a couple of. hours. every. °

TV per day, and only $.70. per

‘month to listen to six hours per

day of radio?

-@ Declare some - part of the

house, other than the TV room,

-a-"no parents allowed’’ ,area.
“Children: and teens often use

watching TV as a way to retreat

. from parents.

@ If you can’t quit completely,
watch only certain programs.
Plan the programs you will
watch and watch only them: it’s
idealistic, but it’s a goal to work
towards.

@ If you’ve declared your TV

' off limits for the week, don’t sit

in front of it and wish you could
turn.it on. Do something! Walk

the dog, join a.club, write a
‘poem, ‘paint a picture, go to

aerobics, go curling, hook:a rug,
bake a cake, meditate, go to the
library, visit a friend, talk to
your family, play soccer or just

-Telax.
The. sponsoring organizations

of Pull the Plug Week have or-

ganized a variety of activities to -
keep you occupied. and away

from the television set for the

- week of Feb, 5th through 11th. .

- Tuesday, Feb., 6th — The
Northwest Singers will perform

sin'the Art Gallery in the base-

ment of the . Terrace _ Public
Library at 7:30 p.m. a
Wednesday, Feb. 7th

Travel talk on ‘‘Cruises’’.

Thursday, Feb. 8th — The
Writers’ Guild will do poetry
readings in the Art Gallery at
7:30 p.m,

Friday, Feb. 9th — A live ;
debate, ‘‘Television Viewing —.
is it good or bad?’’. Members of
the NWCC English Department

-and CFTK producers will battle —
it out. Come and watch the

TV watching is inordinately influential, even

sparks fly at the Terrace Art.
Gallery at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 10th — Face 7

painting in the Terrace Public
Library basement from 11 a.m.

to 12 noon; poster-making and.
face painting from 1 to4p.m. at | =

the Terrace Public. Library.

Feb. 4th to 24th — Cindy
Materi’s one-woman show ‘‘Let
There be Light”? will be on
display at the Art Gallery.

Every Saturday and Sunday in
February, the Northwest Per-
forming Arts students will
demonstrate their musical’
talents in the Art Gallery.

Think about it, More time,
better. communication _ skills,
better mental health. Why not
unplug for just one week — and
keep a journal to record the ef-
fect. .

CAN YOU HELP BY 1
SUPPORTING A

. NORTHERN CHURCH
(St. Aldan’'s Ang!lcan Church)
TELEGRAPH CREEK
Looking for new or nearly
‘new articles to be’
donated for Spring
Auction. Tax receipts
‘available. Send donations
to: General Deilivery,

. Telegraph Creek, B.C.,
_ VOd 2Wo

‘MOTOR
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PLB: ‘COLD. BEER STORE

Visit the Northern Motor Inn, for \
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635-6375