Healthy media habits make for a healthy family. How’s your family doing?
Rebecca Hagelin and Kristin Carey at Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk remind us that in today’s health-conscious culture, the saying “you are what you eat” is generally regarded as gospel truth.
The same is true for what we put into our minds, eyes, and ears.
If you want a healthy family, it is essential to step back from time to time to evaluate whether the media messages we and our family members are consuming are supporting — or harming — the hopes and dreams we have for our family unit as a whole, and for each individual.
According to a Kaiser Family Foundation’s report on media usage, teenagers consume 7.5 hours to 10.5 hours of media each day. But in spite of that much time devoted to outside messages, the same study found on over two-thirds of all 8- to 18-year-olds say their families have no rules about how much TV-watching they’re allowed. The same goes for time spent playing video games and with a computer.
After honestly evaluating and adjusting your own habits, walk one week in your child’s tennis shoes. What is your daughter listening to, watching and reading? Have you ever actually sat down and played one of your son’s video or online games?
So the good news is: You may not have full control of your children’s media consumption, but you do have a lot of influence. The question is: Will you use it?