tv habit

[isali ben-jacob]

It is not a question of control. It is a reflection of mgtment, an intertwined reflection of social stimulus and time aspects.

To all social stimulus there occurs a bifurcated expression of accepting or rejecting the condition in which one finds oneself. And overlaying this is the component of action, namely time.

When one views a figurative plate of food, one must decide upon its review whether to place it in your mouth (figuratively speaking) or reject it out of hand. If the decision was to place it in the mouth, a new assessment must be made whether to reject it and spit it out or to swallow it. If the decision is made to swallow it a new assessment must be made whether to transform it to a deeper level or to reject it. The notion of tissue or energy levels is inferred.

The action component, time, has three aspects: linear time; imagination time; no time. These time aspects are with simultaneous linkage with a variance that operates from a 56K modem to a Broadband width connection. Linear time is by the clock, by the appt. book. Imagination time draws upon sensorial expression. No time is Universal time, a reflection of a circumstance which cannot be reduced nor expanded from the experience itself and that experience is Universal in nature. By example, what every Jew experiences when standing before the wailing wall, what every muslum
experiences when at mecca. They become timeless experiences which defy description.
Robert&Shannon Nelson wrote:

[Jasbir Villaschi]

Hi folks,

this seems like a kind of morbid fascination for the tube,
similar to the fascination that strikes passersby on the site of
a road accident, they often slow down or even stop to get a good
look, it's the same as police often have to snap them out of it
by moving them along etc.

In my early teenage years I hardly watched the box as there was
more interesting stuff to read, do etc but when there wasn't the
pull was fairly strong ... and like Shannon I'd get caught in
limbo land.

Possibly it is remanents of early observational learning
mechanisms kicking ...lord knows but it can be a pain now to get
the thing switched off with the kids around.

Jas
--- isali ben-jacob wrote: > It is not a
question of control. It is a reflection of
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[Tanya Marquette]

i dont know that the fascination is morbid. I recall my son as a toddler. We did not have
TV for many years. However, if he was around one he became glued. You could stand in
front of him, blocking the view. He would slightly shift to regain view. You could do this
several times and his reaction was the same. It was as if you were not there, just a slight
breeze that ruffled your hair--nothing even to respond to. When he was about 2 or less,
he sang his first song and it was a tv commercial. Where did he even learn it? I wouldnt
say this was morbid fascination. Quite the opposite: it was a magnetic fascination that
nothing could break. He was so totally absorbed that nothing else existed. There is some-
thing magical about tuning a knob on a plastic box and all this sound and light and action
appears. It is very seductive. There you are with all this visual, mental and emotional
stimulus and you dont have to do a blessed thing. You are not required to respond; there
is no value judgement between you and the tv characters. You can think, feel and imagine
as you will. It can be a total experience.

I think TV watching can be different things to different people. It is mind blowing in a literal
as well as figurative sense. For some it may be a morbid fascination; for others white noise
as someone else suggested. For others it is their connection to the world. I have seen house
bound people whose primary connection to people is through the soap operas in the afternoon.
In this case there is something sadly healthy about it. It can be a great media for information,
if there were meaningful programs on a regular basis. And it is entertainment and a way of
sharing with others. When I was younger, and tv was still pretty new, families would gather
round to watch a particular show together or kids would come over to watch tv after school
as a group. Then there would be a lot of talking about it. There was a time in my life when
I was training a group of young women--it was a job training program. One of the daily topics
of conversation was the soap operas and what had they missed. The local papers would
even run daily summaries. These programs informed these women of issues that they had
little opportunity to connect with in other ways.

So, I think we need to not be too narrow in
our judgement about this 'habit' and what it might be about. As in everything in homeopathy,
we need to expand our perceptions as much as we can.

tanya

[Shannon Nelson]

Hi Tanya,

I think you're quite right that the thing *is* intrinsically fascinating,
seductive. I read an interesting book re TV titled, "The Plug-In Drug" --
which now is *exactly* how I think of it!!!!! It's *very* drug-like --
flashy results without the need to actually *do* anything (or cure anything,
or solve anything, or learn anything, or achieve anything).

It's true, again as you say, that it can indeed perform very useful
functions, and some people do use it appropriately (or even -- wonder of
wonders! -- not at all). Same can be said of coffee, ciggies, marijuana,
anaesthetics, etc. The question, then, becomes a "risk/benefit" analysis,
and being able to evaluate for whom the benefit is apt to be greater (and
when, why, for how long), and for whom the risk or cost is greater.

And Jas -- re your kids, my advice (whaddayamean, ya didn't ask (smile)?) is
-- decide on an appropriate limit (and my opinion on "appropriate" might be
lower than most!) and *stick* to it. And before deciding on that limit,
think carefully about what things they might be doing/learning *instead*, if
there were no TV to entrap their little minds -- marbles? playing outside?
bird watching? drawing? learning to deal with each other -- and their
parents? napping? helping out with the household?

Oh man, my opinions are showing again!

Shannon
on 9/7/02 6:23 AM, tanya marquette at tamarque@frontiernet.net wrote:

[Shannon Nelson]

Hi Isali,

(Sorry for my slow response) I'm afraid you've completely lost me. How
does this explain or relate to the TV experience? It seems to me that the
TV junkie is failing to make each level of decision-making, and that's what
interests me. But what was your thought?

Shannon
on 9/6/02 9:19 AM, isali ben-jacob at isali@bellsouth.net wrote:

[Jasbir Villaschi]

Don't worry I'm way ahead of them that way ... it's strict
rationing (thus the trouble) Books are the way to go especially
as they are at that critical 'sponge' stage, I admit keeping
three year old twin boys appropriately amused/educated and out
of trouble is a skill that I'm developing at a rate of knots....

Jas
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