Erik Le will give up the tube for TV-Turnoff Week
and report about it next Tuesday.
Photo by Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Erik Le will give up the tube for TV-Turnoff Week
and report about it next Tuesday.
Photo by Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Erik, who turns 11 today, will give up TV and video games starting tomorrow for the second National TV-Turnoff Week. The Lincoln Elementary School 5th-grader will then report to KO! readers on his experience.
Erik, the son of Lien Lindberg, usually watches television every day.
"I mostly watch comedy shows," he said, "`Seinfeld,' `The Simpsons,' `Step by Step,' `Gilligan's Island.` I guess I watch the Disney Channel, too."
He doesn't tube out in the afternoon. When he gets home from school Erik tackles his homework first. Then he watches TV from about 6 to about 7:30, sometimes as late as 9 p.m.
Cartoons, other than "The Simpsons," don't appeal to him so he isn't in front of the screen Saturday mornings. Saturday nights, however, are different: He usually watches from about 7 to 11:30 or midnight.
"Sunday I either go play basketball, to the beach or probably stay home and watch TV," Erik said. On average, "From when I get up, I watch six or seven hours" on Sunday.
Erik used to be a video game freak. "I rarely play now," he said, "but I used to a lot. Now I play maybe once in three weeks."
Why? "Now I live close to a park and a mall" so there are more things to do, Erik said.
Erik is a good student, says Lincoln School principal Mamo Carreira, but he's not a super nerd. Erik said he is involved with the student council, participates in an enrichment program called LEAP (Lincoln's Enrichment for Academics Project) and was on the school volleyball team.
Erik's birthday observance today will be low-key. "We're just going to eat cake," Erik said. "On Friday we're going to celebrate with my brother, Brian, because his birthday is the 26th. He's going to turn 3."
The two boys share a sister, Michelle, who is 13.
Although he's lined up other things to do this week, his family hasn't. "Everybody is going to watch TV except me. But I have models to build, you know, motorcycles and stuff like cars," he said.
The average American watches four-plus hours daily.
Enough already, says Henry Labalme, executive director of TV-Free America. Time to open your eyes to how you're spending your time and what you're missing.
"I really didn't like TV-Turnoff Week, except I did notice that my grades went up and I was in a good mood all week," reported Drew Henderson, a 2nd-grader in Donora, Pa., who tried a TV-less week last year.
So what to do when not watching the tube? TV-Free America suggests everything from baking to visiting a nursing home to learning yoga to writing a letter to roller-skating to simply having a nice chat.
"Our feeling is that anything is more productive, creative and ultimately rewarding than sitting around watching TV," says Labalme.
"The mission of our organization is to encourage Americans to reduce, dramatically and voluntarily, the amount of TV they watch in order to promote richer, healthier, more connected lives, families and communities," Labalme said.
"There's a growing awareness that TV, just like cigarettes, may just be fundamentally unhealthy and it's not enough to filter it down."