TV and the Death of a Culture
Steve Wilkins

Once again we have been treated to another dish of "statistics that turn the stomach." Another survey from the A. C. Nielsen Company on the current TV watching habits of late twentieth-century Americans has been released. These sorts of surveys are released annually but I haven’t had the nerve to look at them in over a decade. Taking a gander at the latest survey results, I now remember why I didn’t want to know.

Some of the figures are truly terrifying: 98% of American households have at least one television. 40% have 3 or more! 52% of children ages 5-17 have a TV in their bedroom (amazingly, 25% of children ages 2-5 have one in their bedroom!). Fully 70% of daycare centers now have a TV, it has become the electronic baby sitter even for professional baby sitters. The television is now the "non-essential" essential for the modern American. The average citizen can no more imagine living without a TV than he could imagine spending time in a Tibetan monastery (wait a minute, that’s been on TV so I take it back).

66% of Americans watch TV while they eat dinner and 25% fall asleep at least 3 nights out of the week while watching TV! Imagine, the last thing most Americans hear at night (and often the first thing in the morning) is something on TV. The number of videos rented is twice that of the number of items checked out of public libraries (we are not told how many of the items checked out of public libraries were not books but videos—it is an increasingly greater percentage).

But here is the worst part: The average amount of time the average U.S. household has the television on per day is 7 hours and 12 minutes. Nearly all of the waking hours (apart from those spent on the job) in the average American household are accompanied by the sounds and pictures of a television (if this thought doesn’t give you the "chilly-willies," see your doctor immediately!). Now, obviously, not everyone in the household is watching the entire time (we have to eat after all!—Oh wait, I forgot, we can do that while we watch, so never mind). A. C. Nielsen says that the average American watches 3 hours and 46 minutes of televison per day. Let’s get out the ole trusty calculator and see what that means.

That equals out to 26.3 hours per week; 105.3 hours per month; and 1,263.4 hours per year. In other words, the average American spends the equivalent of nearly 53 days of each year doing nothing but watching TV. One month and twenty-three days of each year are spent not flying kites, singing, talking, or (God forbid!) reading and thinking—but simply in watching. (And the figures are even higher for teenagers)

We have become a nation of passive spectators. This would be bad enough in itself but when one considers what is being watched, it becomes alarming. The content of TV programing has rapidly degenerated in the last decade (not that it was any great shakes before but it is far worse now). Profanity is now commonplace, immorality, blasphemy, boldfaced irreverence and ungodliness, and even nudity have now become the every day fare of television programing. Christianity is regularly mocked and biblical morality trampled upon daily. I would be opposed to watching National Geographic specials for 4 hours per day, but what most people watch is far more insidious. We are, in Neil Postman’s memorable phrase, literally amusing ourselves to death.

One could wish that Christians were far different. Though the surveys didn’t distinguish between professing Christian homes and others, it probably would have made little difference anyway. The sad fact is that most Christians watch and enjoy the same programs which are popular in pagan households. And, most Christians watch just as much. One look at the anemia, vapidity, and triviality of modern evangelicalism is enough to demonstrate this. We now look, act, speak, and think like the world. We imitate their stupid catch-phrases ("Got Jesus?"), mimic their ugly styles (add a cross somewhere and you have "Christian" fashion!), parrot their mindless music, and mirror their chaotic images. We do not read any serious literature, we disdain any music not written in our century, and complain on those extremely rare occasions when we are forced to think. Just look at most contemporary worship and the merchandise at any Christian bookstore and say it ain’t so.

But, you say, (and thanks be to God!) you are not part of this insipid, banal evanjellyfishism! You have taken a stand against modern culture! You are avoiding the noxious fumes of modernity and are seeking boldly to rebuild Christian culture on a firm foundation! And as proof of your commitment, you only watch 2 hours of TV per day!

Now, I confess, if this is so, you are almost a "Luther" by comparison to the world. But consider, brother Martin, thine own ways for one moment. Two hours of TV per day works out to 14 hours per week, 56 hours per month, and 672 hours per year. That is the equivalent of 28 full days of each year that thou art watching the boob tube. Twenty-eight days! Almost one full month of the year is spent watching.

Giving you the benefit of the doubt we will assume you are avoiding the pornography (you are aren’t you?), and the ungodly sit-coms (surely?). Let’s assume you are watching The Discovery Channel, C-SPAN and Turner Classic Movies. Now, here’s the question: Can you justify spending one full month of your life this year doing this? Before you answer, think of the books that must go unread, the fellowship that will be missed, the time that could be spent with the family doing something that is actually meaningful, the time lost and wasted watching aggravating ignorance and ungodliness that only raises your blood pressure, and I haven’t mentioned the time stolen from Bible reading, prayer, study, and profitable discussion.

The plain fact is that we have been corrupted and perverted by the enemy and he has done it not from without but from within — from our own living rooms. The Church has been lobotomised and emasculated by a marvelous piece of technology in combination with our own lack of self-discipline and laziness.

What is the solution? The easy solution is to take a baseball bat, bash the screen, and throw the dead TV carcass out in the front yard (leaving it there as a solemn warning to any cable TV salesmen that happen to pass by). And if you can’t control your TV watching, that is precisely what you ought to do.

But we must not fall for the prohibitionist’s mistake of blaming the creation for our sins. The TV is a technological wonder that could (and will one day) be a marvelous instrument for the glory of God. Killing the machine is a stop gap measure — it may make you feel bold and courageous but it doesn’t solve the problem. The problem is the lust, laziness, the secret love of sin and the indifference to holiness and to the glory of God that still resides in your heart. Until your sin is dealt with, bashing the TV is nothing more than a good cardio-vascular workout. You may well be the better for it, but you still haven’t dealt with the root of the problem.

Dealing with the root problem certainly will involve dealing with the TV. Here are a few suggestions: 1) Turn it off (and keep it off until there is something that you can watch with a clear conscience). 2) Never allow children to watch unattended. 3) Break your addiction to the tube. If you can’t do without it, then the prohibition solution is the answer until you are strong enough to govern the TV and not allow it to enslave you. 4) Never turn on the TV to pass the time. If you don’t have a specific, justifiable reason to watch, then do something that is truly profitable. 5) Never allow the TV to play continuously.

But we must not stop here. Putting away the occasion of sin is only part of the solution. You must put on righteousness. Repent of your sin and indifference to God’s glory. Repent of your ungodly lust and sinful curiously into the things of evil. Repent of keeping company with evil men (which is in effect what you are doing with indiscriminate TV watching). And begin to do what you haven’t been doing because of the TV: read your bible, read good books, talk to the children, enjoy your wife, sing some songs, play a game, take a walk, worship God as a family, exercise some hospitality and spend some time with your brethren.

We simply cannot be a godly, vibrant, zealous people if we are watching television inordinately or indiscriminately—it is impossible. We cannot stand against the tide and rebuild a Christian culture with the wood, hay, and stubble supplied by ABC, NBC, CBS, TNN, TNT, TBS, CNN, ESPN, PBS, and HBO. A Christian culture requires the solid rock of God’s Word and a solid people who are determined to build on that rock. Nothing less will do.