Musings on TV and Netflix

I'm 46 years old, which means I grew up with color television, but with only 3 networks plus PBS.  AND, in the early years of my life, there were no VCR's so if I wanted to watch something, I had to watch it RIGHT THEN.

When I was 8 years old, my family moved to South America for 3 years. We lived in the jungle, and there was no TV at all. I admit I had quite a bit of withdrawal as I was a big fan of Batman and other shows of the late 70's, but of course I adjusted.

When we returned back to the States in 1981, we went back to TV with 3 networks plus PBS.  But when I was in my late teens, I bought a VCR.  With my own money. It was a huge purchase for me and for the time, as VCR's were fairly new. For some reason, I really liked being able to record and watch something later.

As the years went by, cable became available and by age 24, I had cable and was watching a host of TV shows.  But then a roommate said she couldn't afford cable, and I couldn't afford it alone on a graduate student salary, so we dropped it.  When Kevin and I got married, we decided to stick with our "no cable" plan.  

Fast forward many years, to 2015.  At that point, we watched regular TV only a few times a year.  We watched DVD's fairly often and we had Amazon Prime, which included some streamed shows.

Then we decided to try Netflix and have had it for close to a year now.

I find myself really liking it.  There are a host of shows, including some old ones.  In particular, I have watched almost every episode of "Emergency", a show from the 1970's featuring paramedics and hospital staff rescuing people.

Kevin enjoys weird kung fu movies, and Netflix has plenty.

So it has been fun.

But it also doesn't dominate our lives like TV used to in my youth. And I think the reason is that when we watch something, we do so intentionally.

When I was a child, teen, and young adult, I would get bored and switch on the tube. Then I'd channel flip and try to find something I liked.  Sometimes I got caught up in a TV show that wasn't particularly interesting and waste time that could have been used for something better.

And, pre VCR, I tended to organize my life around the shows I DID like, because it was watch it live or not at all.

Now, I'm crazy busy and I don't have a lot of time to watch shows.  But when I do, I choose the time and I choose the show.  I watch on my terms, and with my values.

And the values are important too.  15 years away from TV (from age 26 to 42 or so) made me realize how much of what I used to watch had dubious moral values.  

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

I am extremely visual and I'm affected strongly by what I watch. So I'm careful in what I watch now, much more careful than I used to be.  I'm aware that too much exposure to casual violence, or casual sex, or rotten language, will affect me.

I know that everyone is different, and every Christian has to decide what is Ok for him or her to watch.  I'm not judging others, I'm just aware that my viewing habits in my early 20's did make sin seem normal.  And I would say that the viewing climate of today is far worse than 20 years ago, in that casual sex is considered even more "right" than it was, that violence and lying and sin are even more pervasive and "normal" than they were.

I don't want to be numbed to those things.

All this is a good reminder to me to continue to be cautious in what I watch, and to be careful to oversee what our children watch.