Innumerable studies in the United States in recent years have drawn attention to something that many parents already recognize—the deleterious effect on young children of their prolonged exposure to dysfunctional elements in current American culture.

Writer, television host, and film critic Michael Medved last year focused on one of these studies during a leadership seminar on "Educating for Virtue: The New 'Values Revolution,' " in Salt Lake City, Utah.

He drew the attention of his audience to a University of Chicago survey of 25,000 teenagers in the United States which revealed that, in every ethnic group, children with immigrant parents perform significantly better in school than those whose parents were born in the United States. Also, immigrant mothers and fathers tend more than American parents to arrange proper study time for their children, to encourage older siblings to tutor younger children, and to restrict television. American children, said Mr. Medved, often lose hope, lose confidence, and lose resistance to the pessimism that is challenging so many of them.

In looking for ways to protect children—and adults—from this invasion, Mr. Medved suggested that people should first understand the forces that contribute to this national addiction to despair, and he focused, in part, on the mass media.

Here are excerpts from that section of his speech:

CHALLENGING HOPELESSNESS

The deepest problem with this material isn't the possibility that children will imitate the behavior they see on screen—though we all know that this sort of imitation does occur. The more universal threat involves the underlying message of hopelessness conveyed by these ugly, consistently dysfunctional images in our society—a message that encourages both self-pity and fear.

Consider the vision of the future that movies and TV shows regularly convey: from Blade Runner to The Terminator to Waterworld, Hollywood suggests that the world that we pass on to generations to come will be inevitably and infinitely worse than the situation in which we live today.... The great irony is that, in reality, the all-but-unstoppable spread of democracy, free market ideas, and liberating technology has spectacularly brightened the prospects for our children and grandchildren—those same children and grandchildren who are so powerfully addicted to the media's grim fantasies that they seem paralyzed by pessimism.

Unfortunately, destructive media messages are by no means limited to those frightening fictional tales that pass today for entertainment; they also pervade the news business, which really ought to be called "the bad news business" for its emphasis on disaster and destructiveness. In the bizarre world of broadcast journalism, killing is always covered, while kindness is almost always ignored. The more alarming a news item may seem, the more attention it automatically receives.

If anything, the so-called "reality-based" programming and the ubiquitous TV talk shows are even worse....

These are serious issues because in a sense our own children—especially in their earliest years—are like little Martians. Unfortunately, they seem to spend less and less time with their chronically overworked parents, and to draw more and more of their information about the world of adults that awaits them beyond the home from the lurid images that flicker across their TV screens. The true power of the media is the ability to redefine reality, to alter our expectations about what constitutes normal life. In recent years, movies and TV have abused that power by advancing the notion that happiness and wholesomeness are outdated and impossible in today's world.

WHAT PARENTS CAN DO

It is essential to fight for more hopeful and decent material from the popular culture.... But it is also important to move beyond questions about what Hollywood makes, and focus new attention on what America takes; to concentrate on the demand side, rather than the supply side, of media issues. If we are waiting for the entertainment industry to change its fundamental values, we may be in for a long wait, but when it comes to altering our own private consumption of the popular culture, we need not delay another day.

To understand this crucial distinction, we can try a brief mental experiment about the impact of television. Just imagine that we all got our dearest wish and that trash TV became a thing of the past. Pretend that every major network, every cable channel in the land, confined its broadcast schedule to uplifting, informative programming of the very highest quality. Could we then feel comfortable with the fact that our kids watched an average of twenty-six hours per week—which is the amount of time they spend today on television?

Of course, the answer is no. The major problem with the media today isn't too much sex, or too much violence, or too much rude behavior; it is too much TV, period. Sure, an improvement in the quality of TV could help the country, but we can meanwhile help ourselves by reducing the sheer quantity of what we watch. The schools should make that reduction a top priority for all our kids, helping to tame the tyranny of too much TV.

One practical means to that end might be through the maintenance of a daily media diary. Every member of the family above the age of eight should own a notebook in which, before he [or she] turns in for the night, he [or she] writes out the title of all the TV shows, videos, or movies viewed that day. It is also important to jot down some brief evaluation of each of these entertainments—not any detailed review, necessarily, but even just a one-word verdict like "worthwhile" or "dumb." This simple daily exercise, which won't take more than two minutes of our time, will not only make us more thoughtful consumers of popular culture but will inevitably reduce the amount of TV we watch. Very few of us could record all the time we waste on media entertainment without some tinge of embarrassment—and without developing a determination to change.

This seemingly minor adjustment can in fact transform a home. Imagine that you cut down your TV watching just one half-hour a day—surely a sustainable sacrifice for any American. That one half-hour a day amounts to three and a half extra hours a week to read a book, to listen to music, to exercise, to communicate with the people you love most, to work for causes you care about, or just to go out the door and enjoy this glorious world that God has given us....

For centuries the Shulhan Aruk, the precisely detailed "Code of Jewish Law," has regulated the behavior of the religiously observant in every aspect of their lives. The book begins with a single commandment, which we are supposed to keep in mind on each new day as we open our eyes from sleep: "Rise up like a lion for the service of the Lord!" ...

One could hardly ask for a more forceful—or empowering—response to the attitude of gloomy impotence fostered by the mass media, or the chronic ingratitude that saps the confidence from our national culture. Let that be the message to America's parents, to our children, to our schools, to all those who feel overwhelmed by problems, who feel their patience tried, their faith challenged, and their hope undermined. Whenever our vision may be clouded by the fog of pessimism, we should recall we have deeper reasons for confidence and joy. Rise up like a lion for the service of the Lord!

Reprinted by permission of IMPRIMIS, the monthly journal of Hillsdale College,  Michigan.

MATTHEW

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven....
Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness: for
they shall be filled.... Blessed are
the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Matthew 5:3, 6, 8