Community Magazine August 2006

 ”  30 Community Magazine their reading skills went up measurably. In an article from American Behavioral Scientist from January 2005 called “When theTelevision IsAlways On: Heavy Television Exposure and Young Children’s Development,” studies demonstrated that children who watched more televi- sion, regardless of their age, read less than other children. Children exposed to constant television were less likely to be able to read than other children. Principal Hagler has seen first-hand the ill effects of stu- dents’ TV habits. She explains how otherwise bright students, “don’t have the feel for the book or the written word, because they’re looking at that screen all day.” One student in the school, despite once been on the honor roll and having highly educated parents, was found sleeping at his desk. The parents learned that their son was addicted to video games and televi- sion. Another principal at an area girls’ high school offers a similar experience. “I have noticed it; it’s very clear. They’re a little lethargic. Also they’re not thinking quickly, they’re not alert, and that hurts their learning style, and their abil- ity to concentrate. They do not do their homework because they’re so eager to watch TV.” As a result, she says, students who spend more time watching than reading, end up weaker in language skills. “It’s because they’re not reading materials that can help them with their language skills. They’re falling in their SAT skills. If you don’t read, you can’t pick it up. It used to be they read for leisure, but the more time they spend on the computer or TV, the less time they spend on materials that help them.” Family Life and Social Behavior According to Nielsen Media, the TV is on for 8 hours 11 minutes in the average American home. Thirty-five percent of children live in a home where the televi- sion is on “always” or “most of the time,” even if no one is watching. This TV overload plays out most dramatically in a statistic from Harpers which indicates that 54 percent of kids aged 4-6 say they’d rather spend time watching TV than with their fathers. As a result, the average amount of time per day parents spend having meaningful conversations with their children is five minutes according to RealVision. While many parents point to TV as a major obstacle in their attempts to communicate with their kids, few know how to remedy the situation. One community parent described how her 18-year-old daughter is holed up in her bedroom for five hours a day watching TV. “I’ve realized too late that we never have anything to say to one another anymore. I used to think that if I allowed her to do what made her happy that she’d be okay. But I should have put my foot down… now her only activity is watching TV or inviting friends over to watch TV.” The Halachic Question Halachically, there do not appear to be any Poskim who permit watching television. While most of the secular studies on the subject focus on TV’s effects on children, the Rabbis point out that Torah law for- bid television for adults as well as children. Hacham Ovadia Yosef shlit”a, cites the halachic sources for this prohibition in Yabia Omer, Helek 6, Siman 13: The idea of entering a television into one’s home is categorically forbidden to anyone that admits to the truth. Besides that it is a source of inanity and waste of time for Torah, it is also a source of lightheadedness and it arouses the evil inclination itself through images that are impure, fantasies and promotion of the ways of immodesty and sinful desires that Hashem despises. One who damages his soul will adapt these traits and he will come to judgment in the future. Our holy Rabbi Maran wrote in Shulhan Aruch (307:16) words of enticement (like the book of Emanuel) are forbidden to be read on Shabbat and even on a weekday because of inane content and one who does so transgresses on the prohibition of turning away Hashem from his mind (Shabbat 149a). There is also the problem that it arouses the evil inclination within a person. (Those who write, copy or print this content are causing the masses to sin.) How much more this applies to anyone who watches the images of television that are replete with sinful desires and his evil inclination rules over what his eyes see (Sotah 8). So ruled the great rab- bis of our generation including Rabbi Austricher z”tl, author of responsa Tiferet Adam in the answer printed in the book Taharat Yom Tov (Volumer 6 page 65), Rabbi Yona Staif z”tl in the answer that appears there (page 66) and many other great Rabbis as quoted there. They also said a person who brings television into his home transgresses on “You shall not bring forbidden desires into your house.” How much more this applies to one who has children in the home that this presents a stumbling block and are bringing them under the spell of evil inclination and transgressing on “Do not let evil dwell in your house”. Hashem should seal our breaches and those of the Jewish Nation and we should have complete repentance, Amen.