Letters to the Editor
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But it ISN'T part of life
al74 wrote <<They're just neutral, part of life. TV watching is one of those things.>>
But TV watching isn't just "part of life," or neutral, by a long shot. Everything on TV serves the interests of someone paying lots of money for it to do so. TV watching disconnects us from what is real and immediate and vibrant in our own world. Even if what your child's doing instead of watching TV doesn't have an explicit educational agenda, it is educational--he's learning intimately and tangibly how best to live in and control his own world.
Of course I enjoy the occasional compelling and well-written TV show...though I'm having to wait for season 3 of LOST to come out on DVD to watch on my computer as I haven't owned a TV in 5 years. But for an infant or toddler--when there's no good known to come of it, and a whole lot of real life we do know they're missing out on...as another poster wrote, why would you just passively give huge profit-motivated corporations such access to your child?
Sure, TV watching may not do *much* harm to young kids, but we also know that doing almost anything else is better for them.