Cutting the Cord...

Two years ago we got rid of something that was slowly driving a wedge in the middle of our family.  It was making our daughter think she wasn't pretty enough, it was making our son violent, and it was making my wife and I distant, non communicative people living in the same house.

Every day it would suck the energy out of us and show us new, shiny things we should spend our money on.  It was talking to us all day, making us listen.  We listened so much that we weren't talking to each other any more.  It was slowly ripping us apart and we were letting it.

To make things worse, this thing was in our house by our choice.  In fact, we were paying a lot of money for it each month to stay in our house.

So, it had to go.  We kicked it to the curb and haven't looked back.

This thing that I speak of was Cable TV.  It comes in many guises: DISH Network, Comcast, Cable, etc... but a rose by any other name is still a rose.

Do I think Cable is evil?  No.  

Do I think Cable TV is good?  No.

Do I think our family made the right choice?  Yes.

As a father of two young children as well as a children's pastor I have been increasingly aware of the enormous impact television has on them.  Whether we like it or not our kids are constantly learning and forming who they are as people and I am concerned with where they are learning their information from.

There was a day when Network TV was fairly kid friendly.  I remember growing up in a house that only had three channels, ABC, CBS, and PBS.  My television intake was dutifully monitored by my mother.. but even though she was very particular with what I watched, a lot of things that I shouldn't have seen slipped by even in the shows that she felt were appropriate.

When my family became early adopters of Cable TV in the early 80's, our 3 channels shot up to 30 and too many things that I shouldn't have seen slipped by and are still with me to this day.  I accidentally saw The Shining when I was 7 one day when I stayed home from school with a fever.  I didn't know what I was watching but it looked cool.  Ugh.  That movie still haunts me to this day.  My impressionable young mind was polluted with thoughts and images I'm sure God never intended for me to have running through my mind.  

That scenario is magnified 100 times today.  Instead of 3 channels we now have over 300, many of which are completely geared toward adults.  Even the channels targeted specifically for children are showing programs that emphasize adult themes and glorify things that young children should not be worrying about (like unrealistic body images and an emphasis on boyfriends/girlfriend relationships for example).  When monitoring the shows your children watch, also watch the commercials, many times the show may be okay, but the commercials will be totally inappropriate for a child.

So, what's a concerned family supposed to do?  Get rid of TV all together?  No, silly.  Read on.

For my second installment of Options, I want to show you the steps my family and I have taken regarding television in our home.  I'm not going to tell you that it was a walk in the park giving up cable and I'm certainly not suggesting this Option is for everyone.  I simply want to share with you a viable Option that you and your family can consider.  You should know my wife and I went kicking and screaming the whole way :)  But now that the initial shock has worn off, coupled with all the positive results we've seen within our family, we can not imagine going back.

Cutting the Cable Cord:

• Step 1 - Cut all ties to Cable/Satellite/ DISH/etc...
• Call them up and cancel, send everything back.
• Step 2 - Take some of the money your saving by cutting your cable bill to nothing and upgrade your internet speed to at least 15Mbps (30Mbps is best)
• Step 3 - Get a wireless router if you don't have one already and make your house wireless.
• Step 4 - Get one one the following
• If you have a Playstation 3, Xbox 360, or Wii you can skip this step.
• If you don't have one of the above I suggest:
• A Roku - this amazing little unit hooks up to your TV and puts the power of television programming into your hands.
• Step 5 - Sign up for Netflix, Hulu Plus, and/or Amazon Instant Video
• Get back control of what you and your children watch!

Any of the above options allow you to stream video (many times in HD) to your television set.  The movies and TV shows are categorized and easily sortable.  The Wii and PS3 versions of Netflix have recently launched a Kid's Version of their service which filters out anything rated above PG.

A word of caution though:  you will still have to monitor what your children watch.  This is not a get out of jail free card.  There are still inappropriate things to be seen on any of the above Options.  But this is where you, as the parent, have an opportunity to set up television viewing rules and enforce them.

How our family does it:

We have a Playstation 3 and a Netflix account ($7.99/month).   Our children are old enough to read and we have told them what ratings of shows are appropriate for them to watch.  They can look through the catalog of videos and pick one.

Now here's the important part:  they have to ask us if it's OK to watch.  

Either my wife or I will review the rating, read the synopsis, and make a decision.  We are the final say.  There have been many times when we have said a program was OK to watch only to realize 5 minutes into the movie that we had made a mistake.  In which case we just say that the show is inappropriate and look for another one (there are plenty to choose from!).  Our kids have gotten used to us stopping shows that they are watching because of inappropriateness, and your kids will too.

The beauty of this set up is that you have complete control over what your kids mentally ingest.

Some of our kid's favorites on Netflix right now are:

• The Cosby Show
• Family Ties (some episodes are geared toward teens, judge as you go)
• The Dick Van Dyke Show
• I Love Lucy
• Abbot and Costello movies
• Jerry Lewis movies
• Tons of great cartoons
• Veggie Tales
• and more to be discovered!

Pros and Cons of Cutting the Cable:

Pros:

• You get complete control over what you and your children watch.
• You're not tied down to a specific time to watch a show.  You control when they watch.
• Our kids only have 'screen time' on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
• You get to save money each month (for a date night?)
• No commercials (or very few)
• You get to discover new shows you didn't know existed

Cons:

• There's a small learning curve as it's different than what you're used to.
• No live sports
• but many games can be seen in HD with a digital box convertor and some good old rabbit ears!
• Many shows you watch now are not available yet on Netflix
• although most recent shows are available on Hulu Plus (viewable after the initial network airing)
• Not as big of a selection to choose from as with cable
• Surfing the Net while streaming video to your TV can bog down your connection
• Unless you get a nice fast connection (15Mbs or more).

The next few installments of Options will explore more options available to you, some you may already know about... and some that may be new to you!

If you would like to cut the cable cord in your home, I would be happy to help in any way I can.  Drop me an email and we'll start you down the road of being cable free!

Remember, God has given us the responsibility of raising our children.  Let's not take that responsibility lightly... let's parent boldly and with courage, lovingly pointing them toward Jesus through everything that we say and do!

On the journey with you,

Pastor Beau