The following is part of a letter I heard read on the The Dr. Laura Show. It is a VERY sad commentary on the change TV brought to the common American household. We must be careful the Internet doesn't do the same to us...
Dear Dr. Laura:
When I was a girl, we had no television. When we got home from school and work, my mom (stay-at-home type mom) would sit us at the table and we got our homework done while she cooked dinner. When my dad got home, we ate and talked about our day. If the phone rang, we asked our callers to call back after dinner. Then the kids cleaned up the kitchen (no dishwasher, either) while Mom and Dad spent a little time together and did whatever grownups do.
In the summertime, we all went outside and the kids played while the grownups sat on the porch and enjoyed the long summer evenings. Our neighbors (who also had no TV) would often stop by and join the grownups on the porch while their kids played kick the can or Annie over.
We never were bored. There were books to read, chores to do, friends to visit, and we had "music parties" where everyone brought an instrument and played, and we danced. We had taffy pulls (bet nobody knows what that is). We rode our bicycles. We had fun!
Then, when I turned about 14, everyone in our little town got TVs. When Dad got home we ate on TV trays and watched Bonanza and Rifleman and Grand Ol' Oprey. If we tried to talk during the programs, we were shushed. Nobody came to visit any more, because they, also had TV. When they did visit, the TV was on, so nobody could concentrate on talking. ...
Thanks for listening.
Trish
http://www.drlaura.com/letters/index.html?tmpl=printer&mode=view&tile=1&id=17379
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