Technology Thursday
A national conversion to digital television is imminent. Starting soon (originally this month, but the House just approved a 4-month-delay) broadcast television will no longer be sent over analog airwaves, but will instead be sent only in digital. If you have cable, you probably won't notice. If you use rabbit ears or some other sort of antenna to receive television and your television doesn't have a DTV receiver, then you'll need a converter box to continue to get broadcast channels. There is a lot of information at www.dtv.gov. There's a fair bit of controversy over this, too. Is it a good idea? Is it happening too fast? Have consumers been given enough notice? What about those coupons and expiration dates? And so on.
But what this conversion has got me thinking about is television in general.
Since our son was born, my husband and I have watched almost no tv. We had some Netflix DVDs that we took to the hospital, didn't watch, and didn't send them back until Christmastime, when the boy was 6 months old! Since he is still sleeping in our room, we can't watch tv at night anymore, and there's certainly not a spare minute of free time during the day or early evening.
So, we're now wondering whether it's even worth continuing our cable subscription at all. In fact just the other day we called the cable company and told them to downgrade to the lowest possible tier. If we're still not turning on the television a few months from now, we'll probably just cancel it entirely.
Then there's the whole issue of potential harm to kids from watching too much television. The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends that children under 2 be discouraged from watching any television at all. My son, at just 7 months, is already fascinated by screens of all sorts, however - tvs, computers, iPods, blackberries. We're keeping him away from the tv for now, though.
Do you have any thoughts on the upcoming DTV conversion? How have you integrated or not integrated television into your family life? If your kids are older, have you found it an irresistible force? What strategies do you have for promoting other sorts of activities for kids?
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Thursdays will be Technology Thursdays here at Mom Spa. My current plan is to interpret 'technology' broadly - to include gadgets, gizmos, technology, science, and policy regarding all of the above, and, of course, how such things affect our lives. There will probably usually be a parenting or life balance angle as well, but maybe not always. We'll see as we go! Suggestions for topics are always welcome.
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