You Don't Need TV to be Well-Informed

Many people who acknowledge TV's dangers as a time waster and mind polluter nevertheless fear that without TV, they will not stay informed about world events.

A few questions to ponder as we ponder this issue for ourselves:

• Is keeping up with world events the best use of our time? What else could we be using this time for? (Talking to a family member, sharing the good news about Jesus with a lost person, studying the Bible, etc.)
  
• Is the TV the best way to learn the truth about world events? To what extent do we feel TV reporting is biased? (Bias can be through outright lies, or through selective decisions about what truths to report.)
• Are we able to watch TV news without exposing our eyes to potentially seductive advertisements? (Both for sex and for unneeded possessions.)

Understand, I'm not saying watching TV itself is a sin. TV is simply a communication tool. The question is what messages is it giving us?

And, apparently TV does not actually work to keep Americans apprised of current events. Pew Research is currently running an online poll, measuring knowledge of current events. Despite the fact that I have not watched TV in years, I scored higher than 93% of other poll-takers. I don't say this to brag (I think many of you will score equally well, if not better), but simply to demonstrate that TV consumption is not necessary to be well-informed. When you see how easy some of the questions are, you too will question how well TV works as an educational tool!

Thanks for sending the link to the poll, Doug! :)