The monster called television
“The relationship between the two cannot be described in words. They dined, laughed and cried together. Deep into countless nights they stayed awake – one needed the other to survive. At work, he was distracted. When alone he was dreamy. But when together, the world around seemed like a haze, nothing else mattered.” Thus goes the life-story of 25 year old Fred. And if you’re dying to know who his other half is – it’s none other than his very own television.
Why, there even can be millions of Freds out there who are into such affairs with their TV sets! Forgive the exaggeration, but the point that we wish to drive home is that, television has taken over our lives to such an extent that not many of us can live without one. We wake up in the morning and spend the puffy-eyed minutes with a cup of coffee staring at the morning news; back at work we sneak in time to watch Sky Sports on our Mac and once at home, we again settle in front of the goggle box, gobbling down thousands of calories in the meantime.
Funny isn’t it, that we never did bother to stop and think of what we’re doing? Funny that we never did realize how many brilliant sun-rises and sun-sets we missed, how many mellifluous bird calls we failed to enjoy, how many laughs, how many breaths of fresh air went unheeded. Our LCD TV sets are holding us captives in our own homes and we’re letting them do it!
And our kids – how many of them play out doors these days? Ever in front of the TV or computer, our kids are following suit. This pattern can have devastating results in the long run, which may range from developing mental weariness and speech problems to increased aggression. But the most startling consequence of this is the resurgence of rickets. Scientists feel that rickets is becoming a prevalent disease among British children these days for which they blame lack of out door activities due to the increased hours spent indoors in front of the TV or playing computer games.
Rickets is a childhood disease, characterised by bow legs and improper growth. The disease is caused due to a deficiency of vitamin D and a poor diet. Professor Simon Pearce of Newcastle University said that vitamin D levels are very less in children than the previous years as they tended to stay indoors “instead of enjoying the fresh air.”
Now, isn’t this an warning signal for us to sit up and take notice? Yes, it can’t be denied that entertainment is necessary. But it wouldn’t do any harm to limit it to a few hours, would it?
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