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Technology's effects more negative than positive

The story is common. Each Saturday morning a child wakes up early and runs to the television in the living room. He turns on the television and stares at the glow of the fluorescent screen. Sometimes he watches cartoons for an hour or two, sometimes all day long.

Large amounts of electronic media inundate American society. Almost every home in America has a television set. A TV Guide survey in 1992 stated that only 40 percent of Americans would give up watching television for $1 million.

Computers are available in almost every public school classroom. Internet access has become widely available. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the number of Internet accounts will equal the total world population by the year 2001.

College students see the Internet as an academic resource. Many students use the Internet for research or communicating via e-mail. E-mail is now the medium of choice for sending greetings to family and friends.

"The Internet gives access to all kinds of information. You're more in touch with what's going on in the world," Dave Jongeward said. "Technology," Mr. Jongeward said, "can be used for a lot of good, wonderful things. But there's also the ability to be in touch with bad things."

Clifford Stoll, an astronomer, author and early Internet user, sees the Internet as an "empty utopia" in our culture's technological advancement. Mr. Stoll criticized the use of Internet in his book, "Silicon Snake Oil." He uses the example that the University of California's Internet links cost well over $10 million a year. "Students and faculty shrug at the costs--they aren't billed," Mr. Stoll wrote.

Mr. Stoll also criticized how companies install Internet connections in offices for increased business effectiveness. "Of course, it's absurd to put a TV on your work desk. Yet the Internet, with its wide access to games, newsgroups, and chat lines, is considered desirable for the office. Go figure," Mr. Stoll said.

Ron Kaufman, who runs the Internet site "Kill Your Television," contends that the Internet is interactive, when television is inactive. "There are many similarities between the two mediums. However, computers, unlike televisions, are expensive, complicated, and require patience and training in order to operate," Mr. Kaufman wrote.

Television can connect people to information from all over the world. "With TV, there is the good of being exposed to the informational, news, and educational [material]," Mr. Jongeward said.

Others see television eroding the United States' strained interpersonal relationships. Quentin Schultze, a professor of communication at Calvin College, calls the television the Boobis Americanus. "We see the tube invading the precious free time of a frenzied culture. Instead of planning how to use the medium, we grab as much 'communion' with it as we can while running through life," Professor Schultze said.

By the time a person reaches age 70, he or she will have spent approximately seven years watching television, according to a study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The amount of violence perpetuated on television is disproportionate to the amount of violence in real life. "The typical American child will witness 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of televised violence in his lifetime," according to the American Psychological Association.

Despite television networks' assertions that they give the public what it wants, a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll suggested that viewers want programming changed. Seventy-nine percent of those polled want more documentaries and more programs about history and the arts. The poll also noted that 59 percent of regular viewers believe television has changed for the worse in the past decade.

Not only has television affected people psychologically, but it also has affected them physically. According to a study by Memphis State University, body metabolism averages of 14.5 percent lower while watching television than while lying in bed. Men who watch television three or more hours a day are twice as likely to be obese than men who watch less than an hour, according to a study at Brigham Young University.

Television watching affects children's ability to learn. "There is a direct correlation between the amount of time a child spends watching TV and scores in standardized achievement test--the more TV watched, the lower the scores," according to a California Department of Education study.

"Two direct effects," Mr. Jongeward said, "are that children are more aggressive or violent and that they are more apathetic or withdrawn."

Socially, television watching decreases the amount of time that individuals have to interact with each other. "Estimates suggest that the typical married couple spends about 17 minutes weekly talking," Professor Schultze said.

Some Christians view technology as erosive to American culture. "Today many North American families are media-rich and communication-poor," Professor Schultze said.

"For religious youth in particular, television undermines the message they're trying to take in from church, from school, from families, and runs in direct contradiction. In that sense [television] can be destructive," Michael Medved, an author and syndicated radio talk show host, said.

Individuals spend their free time -- women 40 percent, men 50 percent -- watching television. Individuals interact little while watching television.

Professor Schultze thinks Americans believe in the technological myth that technology can enhance and increase family communication. "The technological myth is based largely on selfish individualism," Professor Schultze said.

This "selfish idealism" can lead to a deeper dive into a construed reality. "[Technology] seems to traffic in virtual reality, a created, constructed world. The line between virtual reality and reality can become blurred. Life becomes watching TV, playing video games, having cyber relationships," Mr. Ray Lubeck said.

Many individuals find virtual reality a poor substitute for the real thing. "The heavily promoted information infrastructure addresses few social needs or business concerns. At the same time, it directly threatens precious parts of our society, including schools, libraries, and social institutions. No birds sing. For all the power of virtual communities, it's most important to live a real life in a real neighborhood," Mr. Stoll wrote.

Some Christians suggest that people take a proactive approach toward technology. "What are the benefits? Major on those. Expose the negatives. Try and watch [television] only at a specific time and in a specific place," Mr. Jongeward said.

Mr. Medved suggest four things that religious families can do to curb the use of television in their homes:

First, he suggested that families schedule how much time they should have to watch television and what they choose to watch.

Second, he suggested every family member above age 8 should keep a television diary of what they watch.

Third, he suggested removing televisions from bedrooms.

Fourth, he suggested families should honor the Sabbath and keep it holy by keeping the television turned off.

After living in a culture inundated with images, attending MBC is hard for some students. Mr. Lubeck suggested "capitalizing on a different atmosphere from the one you're used to. The experience could be cross-cultural, a broadening experience."