Preprogrammed

A young couple was sitting at a table on the patio near us. The dad fed fruit to the younger girl. She was probably two years old. The mom fed broccoli to the other. She was probably three. The girls took the food willingly, opening their mouths like chicks in a nest.

But with each bite, each girl turned her head and stared, zombie-faced, at the television against the far wall. With each bite, they squirmed and struggled to regain a line of sight with that glowing box. They were speechless, glassy-eyed, passively opening and closing their mouths, intent only on staring into the thing.

Preprogrammed, it seems to me, to settle down when the tube is on. The tube with a DVD being the universal nanny. Why teach your kids how to entertain themselves, when you can sit them in front of a TV? Why give them a crayons and paper? Why hide-and-seek? Why play ball? Why any of this stuff when there's the tube. Plop 'em in their seats and start the video running. Quick, before they get restless!

I feel strongly about this. Except ... um ... the only reason I noticed any of this at all was that I had switched chairs at our table so that the TV would be at my back.

You see when there's a television within sight, my eyes glass over, my brain shuts down, my speech grinds to a halt. Even though I love my crayons.

Imagine that.

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