How To Balance Your TV Diet
When cultural historians look back at the last half of the 20th century, they may discover that the two major preoccupations of the American public were dieting and watching television. It seems the more choices we have in television viewing; the more time we spend watching, with a corresponding widening of our waistlines as well as a passive acceptance of what we are seeing.
Just as choosing wisely what we eat may streamline our figure, screening what we watch on TV can ultimately enhance our life experience. This article offers some practical tips to raise the quality of your TV-watching experience--balancing some of the fats and sweets served up nightly with the protein that may well build better minds and bodies.
Where's the Beef?
If you were to go on a diet, the first thing you would want to do is to determine what foods you need to limit or eliminate entirely. If we categorize TV programs the way we do foods, then fats would be the equivalent of mindless, effortless viewing of shows such as soaps and talk shows, as well as violent/reality-based programming. We might think of entertainment shows, movies of the week and sitcoms as sugars, and we could consider educational and high-production-value shows protein. Of course, there are exceptions, and some shows may fall into multiple categories.
You Are What You Watch
Next it's time to start your calorie counting. Go on a TV fast for 10 days. It's tougher than you think. Observe yourself watching TV and figure out how you are using it. Strictly for entertainment? As a companion? As an escape? If you are a channel surfer, record what it is you're watching.
Strategies for Kids
If you have a household with youngsters, there is a strong tendency to use the television as a baby-sitter. As an experiment, start watching television with your kids and limit their viewing time to three hours per day. Talk to them afterwards, and find out why they liked a particular program. Ask them to come up with a different ending to the program; what kind of feelings they experienced when they watched; and what kind of products they saw during commercial breaks.
Parental Controls
For the pre-school and pre-teen set, if you have concerns about what it is they're watching start using the parental control features on your cable box, DBS receiver or TV set. TCI's Kid Control remote uses logos for channels kids like to watch such as Nickelodeon, the Family Channel, the Disney Channel, and the Discovery Channel, on a bright orange dinosaur or a purple puppy-shaped device.
TV Account Cards
Be on the lookout for (or make your own) TV account cards that let parents credit their kids with a certain number of viewing hours. By supplementing classroom instruction with PBS specials and Internet topic-specific browsing, children will have access to a wealth of edutainment not previously available.
Plan Your Weekly Viewing Menu
Now that you've figured out what you've been consuming, you can better determine what you may have been missing or overindulging in. Whether it's food or TV, it's a good idea to try new things occasionally. This can energize you and stimulate new appetites.
Start Time-Shifting
As soon as the TV Guide or Sunday newspaper arrives, start planning your weekly television menu. Set your VCR to record those programs you want to time-shift (watch at a more convenient time) or save.
If you don't subscribe to a cable or satellite service, look into them. Check out magazines such as Cable Guide, Satellite Direct or Satellite Orbit to get an idea of what's available. You may decide to add some quality pay channels to your current over-the-air broadcast viewing.
New Ways to Find Quality Programs
With the arrival of DTV, digital video formats and 500 channels, our weekly paper menus of upcoming TV viewing fare will be less useful than they are now. All of the digital broadcast satellite (DBS) systems feature on-screen program guides. Look into electronic program guide services such as VideoGuide, StarSight Telecast, TV Guide Plus+, Electronic TV Host or Intel's Smart TV (available on Gateway's Destination PC). All offer a one-week on-screen program listing in grid format. VideoGuide and StarSight offer one-touch VCR recording and news feeds.
Sort Your Selections
While StarSight and TV Guide+ come as a built-in feature on TV sets or cable boxes, VideoGuide and Magnavox sell their small set-top boxes through Radio Shack and other retailers. The VideoGuide Service, available nationwide over paging networks, currently offers a SmartSort feature that learns your viewing habits and news-reading preferences and moves your favorites to the top of the list. Most of these guides allow you to search by theme categories, including sports and movies and favorite programs. They also enable you to sort by subject, genre, director, and eventually parental rating or quality (i.e., show me all the 4-star movies on Saturday night rated TV14).
If you have access to the Internet and the World Wide Web, check out UltimateTV, TV Tonite and TV Guide Online. (See the list of other sites on page [Smart Online Guide sidebar from SF2].) All have descriptions of the evening's offerings with recommendations and comments. TV Guide Online can also help you compile your customized viewing plan.
If your PC has a TV tuner, you can take advantage of Intel's Intercast service or Wavephore's Wavetop service. Both use the Vertical Blanking Interval to broadcast customized information direct to your PC monitor without the use of a phone line.
Program Your Own Personal TV Station
Look for active agent software to assist you in selecting quality programming. More than just a search engine, this type of service helps you define the kinds of programming and information most interesting to you. Based on your profile and profiles of people like you, the software can make inferences about the types of shows you might like to watch but don't know about. Digital access of this sort will also assist you in planning your schedule just as if you were programming your own personal TV station.
The WebTV Phenomenon
If you own an Internet TV device, network computer, cable modem or a game machine like the Sega, and are connected to the Internet, you can really get hooked. Using the picture-in-picture (PIP) feature on your TV to add an Internet window with one of these boxes takes your surfing experience to a whole new level. Imagine watching the movie "The Last Wave" on the Independent Film Channel. You're fascinated by the tribal customs and want to find out more. Now you can easily jump on the Web and read to your heart's content. Or how about seeing an ad for something on TV you're interested in buying. You can go to the Internet, get all the information you need to make your decision, and order it from your living room for the lowest price in town.
Get Smart
With the addition of a printer, a keyboard and a VCR, your Internet TV becomes an integral part of the new home communications center. But that's just the beginning. Add a camera and you can send video-mail. With the addition of a smart card as part of your set-top box or TV set, your television becomes the gateway to electronic commerce. You can even control many of the systems of your smart home with a card. How about turning your TV set into a consumer-grade videoconferencing station? ViaTV, a new product from 8x8, Inc. allows you to do just that. The possibilities for using your television for things other than standard entertainment are becoming more real every day.
It's Ultimately Up to You
For both your TV and physical diets, there is a lot of help available. Experts in both are eager to advise you. Ultimately, however, the decisions are up to you. What you eat and what you watch on television are personal choices that can either help you or harm you. A balanced diet of food or TV can enhance your enjoyment of life. On the other hand, indiscriminate indulging in the kinds of fats and sweets we discussed here will create a mediocre quality of intellectual and physical life. So take advantage of the options that are available--it's worth the effort.
Jody A. Baram is a freelance writer, designer and television consultant.
If you have a TV "diet" tip of your own, please post a message on Smart TV Forum at www.smart-tv-site.com.
[sidebar]
Ten Commandments for Quality TV Programming
Thou shalt watch TV with your family and discuss what you saw.
Thou shalt plan your viewing a week in advance.
Thou shalt get an electronic listing service to assist your weekly program selection.
Thou shalt read reviews of upcoming programs whenever possible.
Thou shalt use a VCR to time-shift whenever possible.
Thou shalt not imitate any anti-social behavior seen on TV, and teach your children the same.
Thou shalt not covet characters, persons, or lifestyles seen on TV.
Thou shalt always pay more attention to the people you're with than what is playing on your TV set.
Thou shalt use the PIP feature of your TV set to enhance your viewing experience.
Thou shalt find alternatives to TV when you don't find a selection worth your viewing time.
--J.B.
[sidebar]
Resources for Smart TV Dieters
Children and Media
"The Age of Missing Information" Bill McKibben (New York: Plume). 1992.
TCI Kid Control remote control for kids, call 800-444-0466
Parental Guidelines http://www.tvguidelines.org/
Just Think Guide http://www.justthink.org/lit.html
Media Literacy References http://valinet.com/~zleven/references.html
WebTV http://www.webtv.net/wtvnet.html
Electronic Program Guides
UltimateTV http://www.ultimatetv.com/guides/today.html
TV Guide http://www.tvguide.com/
TV Host http://www.microserve.net/~tvhost/index.html
VideoGuide http://www.vgi.com or call 1-800-VGUIDE1
StarSight Telecast http://www.starsight.com or call 1-800-643-STAR
SmartGuide http://www.hig.com/ Note: Intel bought this product from Harmon Interactive and will be incorporating it into its Intercast product.
Companies
Agent Technology: Firefly http://www.firefly.com
VideoConferencing: 8x8, Inc. http://www.8x8.com
Smart Home Controls: AMX Corp. http://www.amx.com
Wavephore: http://www.wavephore.com or call 602 952-5500
Gateway 2000 http://www.gw2k.com or call 1-800-846-1784
Publications
Cable Guide: call 1-800-440-8876
Satellite Direct and Satellite Orbit: call 703 827-0511
--J.B.
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