APRIL  25- MAY 1 2005

TELEVISION AND YOU
 

Night after night, we sit for long hours in dark rooms. Identical images flow into our brains, McDonaldizing our perspectives, knowledge, tastes, and desires.

We spend more hours watching nature shows than experiencing the real thing; more time laughing at TV jokes than making jokes ourselves; more time experiencing TV sports than actually picking up a ball in our hands.

Halal and Haram are lost when eyes are mesmerized, fixed on that 19" piece of furniture called television.

Our brains are targeted at the rate of 3,000 marketing messages per day - twelve billion display ads, three million radio ads and over 300,000 TV commercial toxins are dumped on us. Our attention spans are diminishing, our imaginations giving out, we are unable to remember the past.

While competing for the best of this world, we once in a while recall the everlasting life. But that moment doesn't last very long. It is washed away pretty fast as we willingly setlet down for another session with our good friend TV.

And children. Those innocent souls, born Muslim, are being given away to the 19" babysitter to turn them into a lost people.

This page is not about complaining. This is about taking charge. It is about sharing the technique of liberation while singing the hymns of "We hall overcome". It is about... wel,l check out some of the following helpful essays and tipsheets. You'll get the idea.

TV Turn-Off Week: Take Up The Challenge

by Sound Vision Staff Writer

I've decided to take up the challenge.

April 24 until April 30 is TV Turn-off week.

The aim of TV Turn-off week is to reduce the amount of television Americans watch and to focus on activities that watching television displaces like reading, creativity, productivity and healthy physical activity. Here are some more reasons to consider going cold turkey on the tube for a couple of days:

Reason #1: a fast from the TV lifestyle is needed

Television isn't just a technological object, or a medium. It's a lifestyle.

According to TV-Free America (TVFA), since 1995, over 12 million people have experimented and thrived with a TV-free lifestyle. 

Many of us can benefit from this kind of a “fast” from TV, even if it is only for a week. It will give us time to rethink the role television really plays in our lives and how much of an impact it has on us at a practical level.

The idea of not watching television, at one point, seemed very strange to me. Even now, while I am more aware of the amount of time often wasted by television, as well as its sexually inappropriate and violent content, never watching television again seems strange since it has been such a staple of my life for so long.

Growing up watching Sesame Street and Looney Tunes, then the A-Team and WWF (World Wrestling Federation) wrestling in elementary school, spending my teen years watching sitcoms like the Cosby Show and Family Ties and my 20s watching more “intelligent” programs like the X-Files, Oprah or documentary programs indicates just how much television has been part of my life.

TV was how I related to my friends at public school, and my Muslim friends. It was how I often spent dull, Sunday afternoons, not putting much imagination into what else I could be doing with my time.

So a break away from the glowing box of charms which has been a fixture in my living room for years will be interesting.

Reason #2: TV content is no longer appropriate

There's also another reason I want to turn off the TV.

There used to be a time, way back when, when I could comfortably sit and watch some television shows, at least the news, with my parents.

Today that is practically impossible.

Even when watching the news, I usually take the responsibility of the remote control, since the commercials and even some news items are no longer suitable.

My poor father, who likes to “take charge” of the remote control, often doesn't know what's coming and sometimes ends up pressing the wrong button on the remote.

As a more “experienced” television viewer, I have learned to pick up the nuances and signals that something's coming up that I shouldn't be watching. I prepare myself by precisely placing my thumb on the channel changer of the remote. It's like getting ready to fire a missile and wanting to make sure it hits its target.

But many times, the inappropriate material (and that's putting it lightly) flashes by in a matter of seconds, so that even if you do change the channel, you've still seen what advertisers or television show producers want you to see to get the message across. It's a lose-lose situation.

While there are definitely programs that are informative and useful, frankly speaking, and especially if you don't have cable, they are the minority.

Most of what's on television today is not suitable for Muslims, young or old.

Reason #3: to take stock of how I spend my time

I would also like to take up the TV turn off challenge to observe how I fill my TV-free time. Maybe I can finally read the collection of Islamic books I've borrowed to read and eventually return “one day”.

Maybe I can start memorizing the Surah I've been putting off doing for age or clean out the junk in my room.
And the list goes on.

These are some of the reasons I'll be taking the TV turnoff challenge. I encourage you to do the same. What have you got to lose?

6 Reasons not to watch TV

by Sound Vision Staff Writer

Ask yourself an honest question: given the number of times kissing, and various examples of sexual behavior show up on that screen (even the remote control doesn't work as well anymore) what would happen if Mom or Dad walked right in and sat beside you when it was on?

This nasty aspect of television is getting worse. Why subject yourself to it and earn Allah's anger as you catch even a glimpse of this Haram?

Enough studies have shown the link between watching violence in the media regularly and violent behavior. It should come as no surprise that school shootings, road rage, and airplane rage, to name just a few examples of violence in our culture today, happen. Don't desensitize yourself, your siblings or your kids any longer. Start today to curb watching violence on TV.

You could have spent more time with your family and friends instead of watching TV. You could have read more about Islam, improved your commitment to Allah, and gained a better chance to get to Paradise in the Next Life. You could have spent more time studying which could have meant admission to medical school or a scholarship to the college you really wanted to attend, or...I think you get the picture. Wasting time means wasting your life. Most TV wastes your life.

TV encourages you to just sit there and let your mind more or less go blank. You pick up pounds sitting there night after night, not getting any exercise.Obesity can lead to diseases later on in life. Sitting there in front of the tube is not good for your health. Walking outside in the fresh (or semi-fresh if you live in the city) air is much better.

While TV shows make great topics of conversation amongst friends, future admissions officers at colleges and universities and employers, for instance, will not be impressed with your ability to recite, alphabetically, the cast of your favorite TV show. They will want to know that you are an individual who is aware of the world around him or her. That means someone who is engaged in intellectual pursuits, more specifically reading and DOING things in the community.

You will also become lazy by depending on this box to entertain you instead of being creative and finding ways to spend your time more usefully. TV can make you a dull couch potato.

Life with the TV: 21 tips for dealing with the thing

by Abdul Malik Mujahid

Not everything that comes through TV is bad. However, because the average child between two and 11 years old watches over 27 hours of poorly supervised television per week; because the only thing that kids do more than watch television is sleep, and because most parents are unaware of the indecent liberties that television takes with our children, you must control this 19 inch Shaytan, as a friend of mine calls it.

1) Halal (permissible) and Haram (forbidden) on TV: TV programs include stirring documentaries about history, science, and nature as well as excellent dramatizations of classics. It also includes a lot of Haram in terms of violence, sex, antifamily and anti-Islamic values in cartoons, sitcoms, talk shows and films. It's the job of parents to observe Halal and Haram on TV programs and guide their children. One rule you can use when teaching your kids the right and wrong of television is the following: if it's Haram to do then, it's Haram to watch.

2) TV Rules for Children: A carefully programmed TV can be a beneficial ally! Set clear rules for your children on how much TV they can watch, when they can watch it, and which shows are permitted. Then stick to your policy no matter how many tears and voices protest. You are the boss. You can unplug the television whenever you want to.

3) Don't Just Allow "Watching TV": Allow children to watch a particular program which you have approved, not just "watch TV."

4) No Channel Surfing: Channel surfing usually means watching the worst of the shows which are on at any given moment. More stops at sex and violence scenes.

5) Homework First: Insist that homework and chores be done before TV is turned on. (No this is not considered child abuse, not at least in Illinois where I live.) Only one in ten parents require children to do homework first at this moment.

6) Watch Together: Watch TV with your children. It will be lots of fun. You might have some topics to talk about later. You may share some laughter as well. If you cannot watch with them all the time, at least do it occasionally.

7) Talk to Children about the Programs: Talking to your children about the programs they watched or you watched together will give you an opportunity to debrief them about the rights and wrongs in them.

8) Never Use TV as Babysitter: No matter what, don't just train your little Muslim to become an avid TV watcher by letting TV calm him down when he is crying or when you want to do something else other than attend to the baby. Also make this rule clear to the babysitters you hire as well. If you have no choice but to subject you child to a daycare center, choose one which does not use TV as its control mechanism. Seventy percent of daycare centers use TV during a typical day.

9) A Smaller Screen is Better: A small-sized TV is better than a larger size TV. The larger size encourages worse watching habits.

10) One TV is Better than Two: One TV placed in the living room will help you keep an eye on what is being watched. A TV in your child's bedroom is the worst thing. It is not that you don't trust your children. It is the TV which you don't trust. The average household in America has 2.24 TVs in their homes and 54 percent of kids in America have a TV in their bedrooms.

11) No Cable Channels: With a few exceptions, cable provides more of the bad TV and adult-oriented programming. I was staying at a pious Muslim's home as the TV brought a rush of his kids in the room I was staying in. To my astonishment, they ignored their "uncle's" presence and protest as they intensely watched a hot nude sex scene on some cable channel. Recently in Florida, during the daytime, a cable company showed adult programs.

12) Encourage Commercial-Free Channels: Public Television and other Commercial Free TV have more informative programs. It is estimated that the average child sees 20,000 commercials per year. Unlike adults, who often mute out commercials, or who get up and make a mad dash for the bathroom during the 60 to 180 seconds, children like TV ads. They like to be told what to lobby for...and lobby they do.

13) VCR Gives Parents More Control: VCR gives you control of TV time and programs. Many parents use the VCR more than television programs broadcast scheduled times. Balance your TV consumption with videos of good programming offered by Muslims and non-Muslims. This will be more in your control and will contribute to the learning process of children. Some of the good video programs could be as good as anything on TV. Adam's World for children ages two to nine is one such video series. Tens of thousands of children learn and have fun with Adam and Aneesah.

One day, I noticed Sister Lonnie Ali (Champion Muhammad Ali's wife) had ordered another set of Adam's World. Since I knew they had a complete set of Adam's World, I asked why she was buying another one. She told me that Asad (their son) had watched Adam's World so many times that all the tapes were worn out. She said he must have watched each tape more than 100 times. His game at one point was to say the dialogue before Adam said it.

14) TV Off Days: Some Muslims keep TV off all Ramadan. Every year there is a campaign called TV Turn Off Week, which encourages people to not watch TV for at least a week. You may want to do the same for very personal reasons. Television can affect young children in adverse ways: aggressive behavior, difficulty falling asleep, nightmares and an insatiable appetite for advertised products. If your kids are showing signs of this nature, eliminating TV for a week or so may help.

15) More Family Activities: TV takes away family time. Poorly managed television wastes opportunities for kids to learn how to relate to other people - including their parents and siblings. And relating with their families is a desire of today's youth. In a nationwide, ethnically balanced survey of 750 ten to sixteen-year-olds, "three-quarters said that if they had a choice between watching TV or spending time with their families, they'd opt for family time."

16) Buy a Movie Camera: Yes you read it correctly. Instead of children being subject to TV, give them the tools to control TV. Empower them with technology. Give them a gift of a video camera. Consumer Reports has a lot of recommendations for good camcorders. Let your kids write a script, shoot a video, edit it on their computer, and put it back on VCR or incorporate it in a multimedia production (and send a copy to Sound Vision. That little producer might have more talent than you think.)

17) Plan Your Time: If you develop the habit of developing a personal plan, children are likely to follow you in the considerate use of their time. By developing a plan for using your time, you will learn to place TV time in proper proportion to other things in life which you want to achieve.

18) Start a TV Journal: To make good use of TV programs, ask children to write a report about it. Have them answer questions like: who were the characters? What was the plot? What was good? What was bad? What did the program try to promote? Let them be the critic instead of simply being lost to agenda of television producers.

19) Fight bad TV programs: Always protest wrong types of things inserted by producers in what you and your children watch. If you don't protest and pursue the matter, they will learn that they can get away with this and will do more of it, not less. Call toll-free to record your dislike of a program: 1-800-TV-COUNTS (operated by the Parents' Television Council, a family oriented, non-Muslim group).

20) Stick to Your Guns: Your children will resist all rule-making efforts to limit their TV time and program selection. Discuss your reasoning with them, but stick to your guns. This is a decision about their growing up as Muslims. More than 4,000 studies have proven that the behavior of children is affected by their TV watching habits. You cannot let false images and wrong ideals distort the future of your children. You must help tomorrow's Muslims today by being reasonable, but firm. If you don't control TV, TV will control you, your pocket, your children, and your worldview.

21) Children Follow You: The bottom line principle of parenting is that children follow you. If you are a couch potato, and fail to practice what you preach, don't expect your rules to have any value. Watch what you are watching if you want anyone to follow your rules about TV. Whether you give prime time to your family or to TV will determine the future direction of your life and your children's life.

"O ye who believe! Why do you preach something you are not practicing? It is of most distasteful in the sight of Allah that ye say that which ye do not" (Quran: 61:2-3).

Living
Without TV:
12 Alternatives & Options
By Abdul Malik Mujahid

Many of today's most popular youth and family programs include varying degrees of sexual promiscuity, profanity, coarse joking, and antifamily plots and subplots. Violence, homosexuality, materialism, un-Islamic and anti-Islamic material are also found in a huge percentage of Hollywood's offerings on TV. Now more than ever, discretion is essential for parents to help their children achieve the best of this world and the best of Hereafter. Here are some options if "taqwa" is in your mind and heart.

1) Get Rid of Television: No, it's not a radical idea. 73% parents, a survey says, would like to limit their children's TV. Hundreds and thousands of families are actually doing it. About 3 million homes in America have no TV. It saves time. Once you actually do it, believe me, you will not miss it. One father says (he works for Sound Vision) that his children got rid of TV when he was on a Sound Vision trip. It has been more than 16 months since. No one misses the thing at all. He hasn't heard any one asking for it. (Well, maybe once when the Bulls and the Rockets were on.) More family interaction, books, computers, and internet have taken up TV's place. TV has a lot of haram programming. Children on an average watch more than 27 hours of TV a week exposing themselves to hundreds of acts of sex and violence in our own homes each and every week! Is it worth it? If you cannot resist, then living without TV is better.

Think hard about this option, though. Both parents much agree first. If you have grown up children then it will be better if they are part of the decision making process. If they will go somewhere else to watch then it is better that they watch in your home.

2) Tune Out TV, Turn On the Computer: More and more parents are discovering that computers are a good hook to get children out of the TV box. Most children already prefer computers over TV. If you still do not own a computer, buy one. A new powerful computer may be priced $1,000 or less now. A used one may be as cheap as $200. Now there are a number of computer programs available for Muslims which complement an ever-growing number of educational and entertainment products in the market which are halal and productive by any standard. Al-Qari, the world's first Islamic multimedia program, is helping Muslims of all ages learn how to properly read Arabic and recite the Quran from any PC or Macintosh.

3) Web Surfing is Better than Channel Surfing: TV is passive. Web is interactive and more informative. Switch to Web or at least spend more time with it. Nearly 22 percent of the 100,000 Web users surveyed recently by investment bank Hambrecht & Quist and ad network LinkExchange said they sacrifice TV for surfing time. Twelve percent said they spend less time with newspapers and magazines because of the Web, while only 3 percent turn off their radios.

4) Encourage Islamic Programs: There are organizations like Sound Vision which are developing Islamic programs for Muslim children on video and computers. The world is not about to abandon TV. TV itself is not bad. It is the programming which is by and large bad.

Children watch an average of more than 27 hours of TV a week, exposing themselves to hundreds of acts of sex and violence in our own homes each and every week! In a study of 450 sixth-graders who watch cable, Oklahoma State University professor Godfrey Ellis found that a staggering 66% of the children watched at least one program a month that contained nudity or heavy sexual content.

Where do children develop their weakened moral ideas? A substantial blame can be attributed to poorly managed television. A child may attend Sunday School for two hour a week, Masjid for two more hours, and never really hear about Allah's prohibitions regarding premarital sex. But when a child has unlimited access to the un-Islamic perspective at the rate of 25 to 30 hours per week, which ideas can we expect to have the most influence?

We cannot let millions of TV sets, thousands of satellites and TV stations broadcast an un-Islamic way of life, ideals, and images as the most charmful product of this civilization. Islam and Muslims have a responsibility to produce and promote a God-conscious way of life, ideals and images using all means of communications possible. You can help Islamic productions by purchasing them, by promoting them, by investing in them. By supporting the development of Islamic media organizations, we are in fact ensuring that succeeding generations remain connected to Islam.

5) Develop Your Islamic Programs: With trillions of dollars being spent today on fiber optic networks, compression software and hardware and low orbiting satellites, the world will have a good size bandwidth available to them pretty soon. With communication technology becoming more digital, cheaper, faster, and more powerful, soon you will be able to produce a video and multimedia program on your own and broadcast it the way you publish a web page today. Who will use all these broad bands? Those who have programs available now will have an advantage. What about you and your family learning the art of production? Instead of being a passive consumer of haram programming become a producer of Islamic programs. You can do it as a profession or as a hobby. Either way, believe me, it is going to be fun, insha Allah.

6) Basketball is Better than TV: Encourage games, gardening and exercises. Children who should be outdoors getting bruised, dirty, and exhausted, exercise only their blinking eyelids as they sit mesmerized, hour after hour, in front of the tube. Evidence indicates that television stifles the ability to express ideas logically. Television viewing replaces essential play activities with passivity rather than activity. A healthy and physically fit child will be able to achieve more in life than otherwise. That's why the Prophet, peace be upon him, encouraged sports and himself participated in them.

7) Go Camping Old Man!: And take the young man with you. Outdoor activities are underrated among Muslims in North America. Hiking and camping are great ways to enjoy life and nature. There is whole healthy culture out there which Muslims in America, especially the immigrants, have yet to discover.

Outdoor family activities can provide good time for family interaction. This is something which TV takes away. According to one study, "the average five-year-old spends [only] 25 minutes a week in close interaction with his father [but] 25 hours a week in close interaction with the TV set." Whose values will this baby adopt? of the old man or of a punk in the tube?

8) VCR Means Alternatives: VCR gives you control of TV time and program both. Many parents use more VCR than broadcast TV . Without a doubt, Islamic media alternatives are vital to our children's survival as Muslims. Sound Vision's Adam's World video series is a big hit with children ages 3 to 9 years. The series teaches Islamic akhlaq, adab and ahkaam in a manner that's fun for them to learn.

Some Muslims from South Asia think Indian films, and Middle Easterners think Egyptian films are relatively harmless. I think they are culturally more capable of encouraging you to haram ways than any other haram film which is culturally alien to you. Some parents think that cartoons are okay. No, they repeat all the rubbish which is out there in feature films. All the sex and violence is present there.

9) Visit a Masjid, Follow a Trail of Tears, or Visit the Old Country: I was in a panel discussion with Abd alHay Moore, Uthman Hutchinson, and Zeba Siddiqui where we debated whether visiting parent's country of origin is a good idea for Muslim children in America. I would like my children to grow while knowing the good and bad of the Muslim Ummah. There is so much of the world out there for them to discover for themselves. Within the US you can follow some historical trail. What about the trail which native Americans (Cherokees) were forced to follow from the Western North Carolina to Oklahoma? And what about visiting one new masjid every month? The idea is that there shouldn't be idle time available to "kill watching TV."

10) Develop an Anti-TV Family Plan: Develop a gradual plan to reduce your daily TV intake. You may want to start off by giving a Summer Break to TV this year.

11) Volunteer Time: There is so much need in the society for volunteer time. There are many causes in the Muslim Ummah. There are human beings without homes and food. There are 30 million poor people in America. You can volunteer, along with your children, to aleviate the suffering. I always look with awe at those Christian missionaries who spend millions of hours (and dollars) helping those in need. There is more organized help from Christians to Muslims than Muslims to other human beings, or to themselves.

Once a Muslim (father of a Sound Vision team member) went to help senior citizens in an area which has a large Muslim population for last twenty years, a beautiful masjid and two Muslim schools. People in that facility were shocked to see him. Their volunteer coordinator finally overcame her surprise and said, this is the first time in the history of our village that a Muslim has come to volunteer.

12) Write a Book: What about encouraging your children to write a book with a promise that you will get it published. With desktop publishing around the block, why not let her become the first published author on the block.

Conclusion:
Today television literally stands between you and your children. And some time it stands between you and Allah as well. TV addiction of parents is not limited to the parents in Matilda. It is the story of millions of homes across America. Unless you control yourself, there will be no barakah in you trying to control children. "Are you ordering people for right conduct while forgetting (to practice) it yourselves, even as you recite the Book? Will you not use your reason?" (Quran: 2:44)

Powerful Television
& Our Innocent Children:
The Uneven Contest

Sometime back a row erupted between France and the US over television programming. "Too many American made programs are being shown on French television," protested the French. To a casual observer this may sound strange. After all, what is the difference between French and American values ? True, the French consider the Americans uncultured but the matter goes beyond culture.

The French argued that American television series were undermining their values; that American programs depicted and glorified violence whose effect would be felt on French society as well. Even when sharing common societal roots, people are concerned about preserving their own values. Imagine the situation when we, as Muslims approach life from altogether a different perspective.

Muslims believe in One God, Allah; they believe the Quran is the revealed Book of Allah through Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace; and they believe in family values. This means no pre-martial sex; abhorrence of violence and waste; no drugs nor alcohol, and respect for elders and love for the young ones. The western value system stands at the completely opposite role. Yet, are Muslim parents in North America aware of the challenge facing them ?

It is of paramount importance to know how Muslim children are subliminally being assimilated into the greater North American society. One of the most powerful tools which influences them is television.

Already, Muslim children are used to processed foods and automated living. They are now being trained for 'processed thinking' and 'automated culture', as well, through television.

A parent's worst nightmare is a six to 13-year-old television addict who watches television in the morning before going to school; fixing himself/herself in front of the set as soon as he gets home in the afternoon and gets another dose before going to bed at night. VCRs have turned favorite shows and movies into an endlessly repeatable pastime. Video games have added to the home box's allure.

Children are in love with Barney today which is nothing more than a jumping doll, filled with cute critters and special effects. A child may learn how to force a smile upon himself but that will be the end of learning. Because of indoctrination by the television, children have little patience to pursue anything that requires a steady stream of thought or the linking of one thought with another. It is potentially addictive to undermine a child's imagination. Even these electronic amusements take a backseat in comparison with the kind of passive activity they induce.

This passive experience crowds out other, more active endeavors, such as congregational prayers at home, playing indoors and outdoors with family members, reading, etc. These traditional forms of interaction with children are most definitely not passive. They are all physically, mentally and spiritually active. A child watching television cannot build a model at the same time or let his/her imagination soar in a good book. Instead, they are cut off from participation, imagination, even from the rest of the family. The child's facial expression is transformed. The jaw is relaxed and hangs open slightly; the tongue rests on the front teeth (if there are any) and eyes develop a glazed, vacuous look ?

Television reveals to children all of the 'backstage' activity of adults. It exposes children to behavior that the adults have spent centuries trying to hide from children. The average child watching television sees adults hitting or killing each other or breaking down and crying. It teaches them that adults do not always know what they are doing. Revealing the 'secrets' of adulthood has virtually destroyed the notion of childhood as a discrete period of innocence. There are now more adult-like children and more childlike adults !

An average child will have watched 5,000 hours of television by the time he/she enters first grade and 19,000 hours by the end of high school - more time than he will spend in classroom. They spend 28 hours a week watching television - more than doing any other single activity except sleeping. Those 28 hours do not include the time spent watching videotapes, playing video games, or listening to records, audio tapes or CDs.

Research has shown that prolonged television viewing by children is associated with more aggressive behavior, lack of creativity, patience, imagination, participation, and physical, mental and spiritual development. So who will correct it and how ?

No institution plays a bigger role in shaping the attitude of children than the family. The ultimate responsibility rests with the parents. It is imperative to strictly limit TV watching time and other electronic amusements, and continually monitor children's behavior. At the same time, the influence and impact of the short time they spend watching television should be counterbalanced with other healthy activities such as reading, Islamic quiz or general knowledge competitions within the family and/or friends, games which require thinking, congregational prayers and indoor/outdoor activities with the family. In this way, TV can at least be put into proper focus, if not completely out of the picture, inshaAllah.

Talking with children also helps. 'Not to them, but with them.' Encourage them to share their thoughts and ideas, and to think things through. Let them know that both logical reasoning and creative thought are wonderful accomplishments. Encourage children to read books and to consider their significance in the larger scheme of things.

Avoid 'drilling' your children or forcing them to 'listen' to you. Rather, 'you' should listen to them !

By Shakeel Syed,