Giving up Television to Save your Soul

[Stella Matutina]

It's good to see you here, Alphonsus! 

As to the thread...it is quite the challenge! Giving up television was very easy, as there was nothing on it that I found entertaining. Giving up movies will be harder, as there are movies that I feel (but may well be wrong) are done in a very artistic, loving manner, which give glory to God rather than trying to deny His existence.

I would do well to keep this quote in mind, at all times:

"For all of us, even morally permissible entertainment is expected to be limited. Leisure does not mean being constantly entertained."

Thanks for this thread, Shin!

[JoyfulMother]

I am curious if any one here has wanted to give up television but had a family opposed to it?

I myself find the noise horrible and refuse to let my kids watch it after school.  Some days I break down and allow 1/2 hour - but then I find the shows annoying and stupid.

My hubby watches a lot of TV and is not willing to consider getting rid of it.  If I want to spend time with him in the evenings, I need to watch TV.  There are only 2 or 3 shows left I will watch - crime/cop shows all of them - because in them I don't usually have to worry about impurity.

If it was up to me, I would throw it out today.

ANd I find that secular novels - whose plots read like TV series - addict me as much as TV.  I can sit and read for hours.  That will be harder for me to break than the TV habit!  I am having problems finding anything good to read, though.  I have been asking the homeschooling mothers at my TLM what they read and will be taking my recommendations from them.  Secular literature is beginning to bother me like TV does.

I also am struggling with how much time I spend on line.  I read mostly Catholic stuff, but I am currently trying to discern if any of it actually helps me.

This is my first post here - so HI to all of you!  ( I have been lurking for a while.)   

I am debating about giving up other forums that seem to thrive on controversy.

Please, all of you, pray for me.

[Shin]

You have our prayers! Welcome to the forums JoyfulMother!

Very glad to have you here!  

That 'thriving on controversy'.. I know very well what you mean. Everyone knows how to start it. It draws people in, it makes for more members I think, it does a lot of things.. but...

There's something wrong with it isn't there? No? Something.. quite wrong..

And I know what you mean about the secular books.. After the TV goes, then a rather similar sort of search begins.. Where are there any decent books? .. Oh dear.. You keep and further back.. And still to some degree..

Without the Faith.. Well.. There's a problem. Even some of the olders authors who are Catholics aren't necessarily virtuous enough Catholics to know how to write properly..

There's virtuous entertainment and then there's entertainment by vice.. There's entertainment with virtue as its foundation and that's so rare.. so very rare.. And there's entertainment that seeks to simply stimulate the base passions, rather than having any value in virtue or truly in artistry..

It's like hmm. . nowadays the music, they play intense sounds that stimulate a passion, and then they have no virtue, so they just play it over and over again and wear it out, and make it too much of the one.. The sound may stimulate one passion or another.. and then the words contribute and hmm.. It just doesn't come together for the good of the soul does it? It simply isn't virtuous and good..

The more we stay with the saints.. and surround ourselves with them.. The better we acquire a feel for what is truly virtuous and healthful for the soul and mind and body..

And in this time we are severly overstimulated and overentertained, and escaping from that habit of life, one that is a vice.. well, it can be difficult.

At least here, although we all live far apart, we're all spiritually close in the Communion of Saints and we can support each other in trying to live the simpler more virtuous life.

I'm hoping to move soon. To be able to garden outside again is going to be a great help to me.

[Stella Matutina]

I am debating about giving up other forums that seem to thrive on controversy.

This is exactly what I have done. There is nothing fruitful in constant arguing and strife. You can be assured of my prayers, JoyfulMother. 

Do you do a lot of spiritual reading? I used to devour secular fiction novels in much the same way as you do before I came to the Catholic faith. Since I knew absolutely nothing about Catholicism, I had to do a lot of spiritual reading, and that completely cured me of wanting to read secular novels. They just weren't worth the time to me anymore, when I had so much spiritual reading to catch up on, haha! So that's one possible cure.

As to television, I don't have much advice to give you, other than praying for your spouse. I am not currently married, so it wouldn't be prudent for me to dispense advice on how best to get your husband away from the TV. 

[George]

Welcome Stella and Joyful mother.

"My television is the Tabernacle."
Blessed Mother Theresa
 

[JoyfulMother]

Stella - I grew up devouring secular fiction as a hobby and as an escape from a painful life.  It is now almost like an old addiction that lurks in the background.  Every time I try to give up my excessive time on-line, I end up back with a book.

But lately, I can't find much worth reading.  When I was protestant, I began to realize the harm that romance novels were doing me & my friends & I actually had a bonfire & burned them.  I began reading more action/adventure or mystery books.  BUt more & more, these contain the same types of impurities or descriptions of other evils that I do not want to read.  I miss old fashioned books like Agatha Christie's  Miss Marple or the Perry Mason novels, etc.

I took a big step yesterday in asking the admins of both the other forums I belong to to de-activate my accounts.  I am a little nervous, but I think it is the right thing to do.  I have had the admins put me on a self-imposed ban at times and during those times I did much better.  As soon as the ban was over, I was right back there.  So I am going to cut myself off totally.  Wasting time on line does NOT help me in my vocation as wife and mother.

I also sent an e-mail to my priest asking for a little advice & help with some good Catholic reading to replace my secular reading.  He says my reading of blogs to learn things about the faith is ok, but what I really need is a good Catholic book to replace the on line time with.

So I am beginning this journey of eliminating unhealthy things.

Pray for me, please.

[Brigid]

Prayers here! What a good thing to do!

[George]

Joyfulmother, There's a very good catholic author nanmed Michael D O'Brien, give him a try.

[JoyfulMother]

Well, the admins from both other forums have banned me per my request.

Now I am waiting for an e-mail from my priest on reading to replace blogs &/or on-line reading. 

I am also waiting on an e-mail address & reply from someone before I close down Facebook.

In spite of not being on forums, I can't believe I have already spent 2&1/2 hours reading various blogs this morning!  This last part is going to be the hardest.  I really want a good spiritual reading list and a good books reading list (fiction that is virtuous) that I can begin on.

I am also taking up knitting as a productive hobby that will allow me to make things for others and keep myself occupied.

Continued prayers please as I try to head down this path!  I really need some extra grace and strength to stay off the blogs now that I am off the other forums.

[Shin]

It's amazing how time can slip away using the computer and the Internet.

The Internet always promises something interesting behind the veil of one more click. But is it really rewarding at all, or just an illusion that what you find will be so?

I pray you will receive the grace and strength to detach and to love new things to do. Think of how whatever new tasks you are taking up are virtuous and so please God, and how it pleases Him to see people giving things up for his sake.

There's self indulgence and then there's doing something virtuously and temperantly for God's sake, and the latter is limited always. There's recreation for the purpose of refreshing the mind so one can perform one's duties and live virtuously, and then there's self indulgence, and they feel different to me so one can discern not only by facts and thought but how they feel I think..

Maybe Brigid you have some thoughts?

There's nothing like the books of the saints!

Knitting sounds like a great hobby to take up!

I've been trying to learn rosary making lately. And the next place I move to I am definitely going to have a space for a garden besides it being more convenient with churches.

[queenofheaven]

I was never a huge t.v. watcher but...I did enjoy a few shows.  After reading the replies I 've been inspired to give up the t.v. I can take it further & cut back on the internet usage as well.  I do love to read & have a lot of ebooks on my devices so I would continue that of course but no longer idle surfing.  Thanks for the inspiration!!  

[George]

Well, the admins from both other forums have banned me per my request.

Now I am waiting for an e-mail from my priest on reading to replace blogs &/or on-line reading. 

I am also waiting on an e-mail address & reply from someone before I close down Facebook.

In spite of not being on forums, I can't believe I have already spent 2&1/2 hours reading various blogs this morning!  This last part is going to be the hardest.  I really want a good spiritual reading list and a good books reading list (fiction that is virtuous) that I can begin on.

I am also taking up knitting as a productive hobby that will allow me to make things for others and keep myself occupied.

Continued prayers please as I try to head down this path!  I really need some extra grace and strength to stay off the blogs now that I am off the other forums.

Hi joyfulmother - Try Island of the world- by Michael D OBrien - the best catholic fiction writer around, all his books are spiritual.

[queenofheaven]

I've never seen the reason for FB.  I think it's dumb in my opinion.  I too, should look at some of the blogs I read.  I may keep 1 or 2 but chuck the rest.  Good ideas JoyfulMother! 

I am also waiting on an e-mail address & reply from someone before I close down Facebook.

In spite of not being on forums, I can't believe I have already spent 2&1/2 hours reading various blogs this morning!  This last part is going to be the hardest.  I really want a good spiritual reading list and a good books reading list (fiction that is virtuous) that I can begin on.

I am also taking up knitting as a productive hobby that will allow me to make things for others and keep myself occupied.

Continued prayers please as I try to head down this path!  I really need some extra grace and strength to stay off the blogs now that I am off the other forums.

[JoyfulMother]

I don't really miss the forums that I had myself banned from, and I am not really using my FB page.  I need to de-activate my account.  I have the option of deleting it permanently, but am a little wary of that.  Maybe b/c it is so permanent.  I may de-activate for 6 months & if I have no inclination to go back, then delete it permanently.

But I have discovered that you can click from one blog post to another and still waste tons of time.

I think Shin said it best:

The Internet always promises something interesting behind the veil of one more click. But is it really rewarding at all, or just an illusion that what you find will be so?

I am trying to figure out how to deal with this.

I have been given an interesting book list by my priest.  I need to go to the Church library and see what I can find.

I am also going to begin (again) to try to be consistent with my rosary during the month of May.  Is there a thread where we can collect like a rosary bouquet of prayers?Just an idea.

I am considering following some advice I got about ordering your life with a schedule - and I have to be careful so that it is not too rigid b/c of my family - and spending 1/2 hour in prayer & 1/2 hour reading scripture (lectio divina).

Do you think an hour total is unreasonable for a mother of 5 - my kids are in school all day.

Any suggestions to help with the incessant clicking from one post to another or with ordering my life?

Thanks for any help & please keep me in your prayers.

[Patricia]

Is there a thread where we can collect like a rosary bouquet of prayers?Just an idea.

I just revived an old thread on the Rosary , Joyfulmother. Hope it helps and lets keep it going this month of May.

Facing the same issues as you regarding internet use and I'm hoping to cut down a bit. I like FB because I can keep in touch with relatives and friends out of the country but tend to spend valuable time there for no rhyme or reason , sometimes.

[Paul]

I love this thread! I read it last year when I started lurking here, and I bought Airwaves From Hell by Fr. Frank Poncelet because of it.

I've been thinking, reading, and praying about it, and it seems to me that all fiction, regardless of medium, has some of the same problems as television. Of course many stories teach heresy through the storyline, and show scenes of crime and vice while downplaying the revolting aspects, but there are problems even when the content is pure. All of it gives a distorted view of life, since we read fiction to escape our lives; it has been a huge disappointment to learn that the world of real life is not the world of the novel or the movie. Plus, all fiction shows imaginary people suffering (otherwise there's no story), and we feel for them but cannot do anything for them; I think this desensitizes us to real suffering, the way violence on television desensitizes us to real violence. In addition, since nothing happens in real life unless God wills it (the book Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence has been one of the greatest graces I've had since my conversion!), it follows that every work of fiction inevitably, though inadvertently, says something about what kind of situation God would or would not permit. How would God handle a given situation? No one knows, but the fiction writer claims to know.

Then there's the fact that we don't know if a work of fiction teaches heresy, shows impurity or violence, or is otherwise bad, until it's too late; once we read something, we can't un-read it. It remains in our minds forever, to serve as material for future temptations. (One science-fiction short story gave me nightmares for a year.)

But most people think novels are the antidote to out TV-saturated culture, so we're off our guard, even more so when the book calls itself Catholic.

Here are some quotes from saints on the subject:

"To instruct children from pagan books is not only to teach them useless things, it is to take them from God, and sacrifice them to the Demon. What are all these things but wind and smoke?"

St. Augustine

"These are those who would not think of failing to hear Holy Mass every day, and, at the same time, will not deprive themselves of the satisfaction it affords them to attend the theatres, although the Church has always regarded these as pernicious, considering the ordinary sort of entertainment therein presented.

Again there are those who sometimes read books of piety, and afterwards pass the night in reading novels filled with the venom of bitterness of falsehood and immorality.

This caused Gerson, one of the most famous lights of the University of Paris, to say, of a novel writer, that if he knew him to have died without doing penance for his sin, he (Gerson) would think no more of praying to God for that man's soul, than he would think of praying for Judas."

St. Jean Eudes

"But some one may say, What harm is there in reading romances and profane poetry when they contain nothing immodest? Do you ask what harm? Behold the harm: the reading of such works kindles the concupiscence of the senses, and awakens the passions; these easily gain the consent of the will, or at least render it so weak that when the occasion of any dangerous affection occurs the devil finds the soul already prepared to allow itself to be conquered. A wise author has said that by the reading of such pernicious books heresy has made, and makes every day, great progress; because such reading has given and gives increased strength to libertinism. The poison of these books enters gradually into the soul; it first makes itself master of the understanding, then infects the will, and in the end kills the soul. The devil finds no means more efficacious and secure of sending a young person to perdition than the reading of such poisoned works."

St. Alphonsus Liguori

I am curious if any one here has wanted to give up television but had a family opposed to it?

I myself find the noise horrible and refuse to let my kids watch it after school.  Some days I break down and allow 1/2 hour - but then I find the shows annoying and stupid.

My hubby watches a lot of TV and is not willing to consider getting rid of it.  If I want to spend time with him in the evenings, I need to watch TV.  There are only 2 or 3 shows left I will watch - crime/cop shows all of them - because in them I don't usually have to worry about impurity.

If it was up to me, I would throw it out today.

ANd I find that secular novels - whose plots read like TV series - addict me as much as TV.  I can sit and read for hours.  That will be harder for me to break than the TV habit!  I am having problems finding anything good to read, though.  I have been asking the homeschooling mothers at my TLM what they read and will be taking my recommendations from them.  Secular literature is beginning to bother me like TV does.

I also am struggling with how much time I spend on line.  I read mostly Catholic stuff, but I am currently trying to discern if any of it actually helps me.

This is my first post here - so HI to all of you!  ( I have been lurking for a while.)   

I am debating about giving up other forums that seem to thrive on controversy.

Please, all of you, pray for me.

You are in my prayers.

Your post looks like something I could have written (except I'm male and called to celibacy). I live with my mother, and she loves the TV. She's watching less than she used to, but it's still a source of difficulty between us. If it were up to me, I'd disconnect the damned thing (I'm not swearing, I really do mean damned). But if I want to do anything with her after I get home from work, I have to watch TV. Sometimes she will let me decide what to watch, and in those cases I choose children's shows, since they are relatively free of blasphemy and impurity. But she can't stand the thought of giving up TV, and she hates when I'm offended by the blasphemous and sinful content. I want to quit, but she doesn't. If you find a solution, please let me know!

I lost interest in novels shortly after I converted, but I have my own habit that I find harder to break than TV: video gaming. I gave it up for Lent, but I'm nowhere near ready to give it up. All the games I play are suitable for young children, and I mostly play when I'm home alone, but like you with novels, I can lose myself in it for a long time. And, like you, I spend way too much time looking at Catholic websites, and so little of it actually helps me. In fact, most of the help I have had from these sites has come from saints' writings. I have decided to quit other forums for the same reason as you. Let's hope we can both keep it up!