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We're parents, we're kids, and we have strong opinions and big questions about screens: TV, computer, game systems, cell phones.

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Headphones: our new isolation unit

Friday, August 8th, 2008

This week, our kitchen sitting area has been the site of a social experiment of sorts. Our TV there went suddenly and permanently mute a few days ago.  Without warning and for no apparent reason (other than poor manufacturing), the two-year-old TV’s internal speakers stopped working. Next week, we’ll have the TV repaired. But in the interim, we’ve […]

No TV, video games for girls who trashed home

Saturday, August 2nd, 2008

Hmmm. How to punish teen vandals without having a crime appear on their “record”? The AP reports that the New Smyrna Beach, Fla., home of Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy was vandalized two weeks ago by teenage girls. They used fire extinguishers, eggs and running water to damage the 87-year-old’s home. Cathy requested the girls […]

Taming the TV tiger–again

Monday, July 28th, 2008

We had a lovely, lovely 12 days in Ireland, and one of the lovely-factors was that TV was virtually absent. Having no background noise calmed me, and having very little idea what was going on in the world was restful. Most importantly, I was thrilled to see my children having so much fun with little […]

Rated “E” for everyone

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

We recently ran into one of Alex’s preschool buddies and his mom at Target. Alex couldn’t resist announcing to his friend that he was buying a Ben 10 toy. “Ooh,” the mom said to him, “you’re lucky. My kids don’t get to watch that show.” (Translation: “We’re more responsible about limits than in your house.”) And […]

Peace on earth…

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

…or maybe we should start in the family room:
“Today, watching television often involves fighting, violence and foul language. And that’s just deciding who’s going to hold the remote control.” - Donna Gephart
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The perils of Sesame Street

Thursday, November 22nd, 2007

If you watched Sesame Street as a child and remain unscathed, you can breathe a sigh of relief. I mention this because a recently released DVD of the first episodes of the ground-breaking PBS show for preschoolers comes with this warning:  “These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool […]

Turn down the volume

Tuesday, November 6th, 2007

I’ve alway been sensitive to noise. When I was about 12, I told my mother that I wanted to work in a bank, because the lobby of our local savings and loan was so quiet. After that, I wanted to be a librarian. (Remember when librarians “shussed” patrons who were talking, back when libraries were for reading, not […]

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