115 hours!! One hundred and fifteen hours! That is how much media I consume per week. I was blown away. This media in the survey included TV, Movies, Video games, texting, talking on the phone, reading a book, and reading the newspaper. We do not have TV at our house. We only watch one movie per week, on Friday nights. We do not have a video game console in our home. But we do have music and books. Besides a few hours a week texting or talking on the phone, the majority of my media use was in reading books and listening to music. I was floored. That is like working 3 full time jobs every week. WHAAAAAT!
Media, can be a great tool and resource. It can also be a tool of the devil. Our kids have kindle's. They have restrictions out the wazoo on them. They can read any time between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays, and they can only play games on Saturdays for two hours. We are not big fans of media. But when you consider reading, art, and music as a media venue, well then, the game changes. We allow as much reading as people want to do, and art, well, sometimes we go to museums, and music is a staple. :) I can't do my school work without a computer, and I can't teach the young women without a computer. Our world is media saturated and that's just the way the world is and it is changing quickly. When I was in high school and first years of college in the late 90's, we did not have the internet, we did not have a computer, we did not have a cell phone. And that wasn't that long ago people. We are ever consumers of media and it's up to each of us to be responsible in the media we are choosing to bring into our lives.
Speaking of good media, over the weekend we saw an awesome movie, "The One Hundred Foot Journey". It is about a family from India opening an Indian restaurant in a village in France, 100 feet from a very popular French restaurant. It is a wonderful movie for all the senses. It is directed by the same director of Chocolat, and the food and camera angles on the food is mouth watering. The scenery is eye candy and the languages and accents are music to the ears. The love of family, respect and love for one's culture and the lessons learned about tolerance and acceptance are food for the soul. Go and see "The One Hundred Foot Journey", you will be oh so glad you did.
