The Plug-In Drug

The Plug-In Drug

Today we're going the oldies but goodies route. Unfortunately
Marie Winn's The Plug-In Drug is even more relevant today than it was
when it was written in 1977 and updated in 2002. I got a great deal
from my rereading and think you will too. In fact it should be a call
to arms for American society.
When the first edition of The Plug-In Drug came out people were
concerned about the effect of television content on children. The
possible effect of television violence on making kids either more
violent or more desensitized to violence was explored just about way
possible. Winn said fugedaboutdat. The big problem was the sheer
amount of time kids were spending in front of the set and the things
they weren't doing:
*bonding with caretakers
*learning social skills
*learning about their environment and developing skills by
manipulating objects
*reading
*exercising creativity
*developing interests and hobbies
*being involved in their communities...
In other words, a lot of kids were passively watching content--good,
bad, or indifferent--rather than enjoying the developmental
experiences human beings are designed or evolved to learn from.
Let's look at just one thing kids who are heavy television
watchers aren't doing much of: reading. I think we can agree that at
least functional literacy is a key survival skill in today's world.
We can also agree that kids who read better do better in school and
beyond. Acquisition of the basic skills is work and requires a lot of
practice. The payoffs are huge. When its componants become fairly
automatic there is a shift from learning to read to reading to learn.
If the shift never happens even intelligent kids can be left in a scan
rather than comprehend mode. Oh, yeah, reading is the foundation of
that other important life skill writing.
If I went into the other deficits incurred by television and
related electronics taking up too much time this review would be much
longer than you'd want to read. As anyone who has read Bowling Alone
can attest, we adults are not faring much better. Please read this
book, get righteously angry, and help create a movement to liberate
our hearts, minds, souls, and communities from addiction to the plug-
in drugs.
On a personal note, I am so glad I never became overly fond of the
television. If I had I wouldn't be the smart, creative, friendly
person I am today. I wouldn't be writing this blog I hope you are
enjoying.
A great big shout out goes out to you, my readers.
Julia Emily Hathaway


Sent from my iPod