Basic HTML Version
what
you
can
do
•••
TIMELY
Tips and
Helpful
Suggestions for YOU and YOUR
FAMILY
•
Buckle Up When Driving
Most of today's automobiles are seatbelt equipped.
Tragically though, less than 40% of a ll drivers use their
seatbel ts. This is a gross mistake. Here's why.
Seatbelts keep auto occupants from being thrown
into the windshield or smashing into the dashboard in
an accident (the cause of 48% of auto fatalities). They
also prevent one from being thrown out of a car in an
accident (the cause of 27% of auto fatalities). Sorne car
accidents are so bad that nothing could save the occu–
pants. But overall, studies show seatbelts reduce serious
and fatal accidents in al! crashes at all speeds by 43%.
Don't forget the children. Depending on their age
and size, children need special safety restraints. Accept–
able examples are the Swedish Klippan Cradle Seat
(birth to 4 years) and the Ford Tot Guard (children l to
5
years). Others are also available.
•
Another Kind of Addiction
Drug addiction is a continuing worldwide concern.
Its destructive effect on individuals and farnilies is well
documented. But there is another kind of addiction
which is also destructive to individuals and families -
addiction to television.
Sorne individuals "turn on" to television like others
do to drugs.
It
becomes a way of escape from their
problems and the real world. They "hallucinate" on the
fast moving violence and drama on the TV screen to re–
place and escape the dull void they've allowed to creep
into their own lives and perhaps to forget a job they
can't stand. They lose their spark of life as persons.
Prominent psychiatrists and other social scientists
are alarmed, too, at finding how sorne families are liter–
ally split apart from too much television viewing. These
families' conversations are stified, their activities be–
come almost nonexistent , and their children failto learn
how to communicate and relate to others. Hence family
members become almost total strangers.
What about you and your family? Are you or your
farnily watching too much television?
Psychiatrist Jean Rosenbaum prepared an inter-
PlAIN TRUTH April 1973
esting test to show television viewers where they stand
in relationship to television addiction. Take the follow–
ing test and score yourself:
l.
Do you eat your meals watching television? (Always
10) (Sometimes 5) (Never O)
2. Are you selective about your television programs?
(Selective 5) (Non-selective 10)
3. Do you leave your set on in order to go to sleep?
(Always 10) (Occasionally 5) (Never 0)
4. Do you leave your television on wben you are not
actually watching it? (Yes 20) (No O)
5.
Do television personal ities aod cbaracters seem
closer and of more interest to you than do members
ofyour family and friends? (Yes 25) (No O)
6. Do you prefer staying home and watching televi–
sion to going out and socializing? (Yes 25) (No O)
7. Do you really believe
in
soap operas?
(Y
es 10) (No O)
8. Do you become irritated when your favorite pro–
gram is preempted by a public service program ora
news bulletin? (Very irritated 10) (Mildly irritated
5) (Not irritated O)
9. Do you become upset and feel at a loss
if
your TV
set is broken?
(V
ery upset 10) (Slightly upset S)
(Not upset O)
10. (a) How many hours in a 24-hour period do you
spend watching TV on weekdays? (b) How many
hours do you spend watching TV on Saturday and
Sunday combined? (Count 1 for each hour; com–
bine the score for a and b. A score of 30 is maxi–
mum for this question.)
11. Would you rather see the news on te1evision instead
of reading it? (Yes 10) (No O)
12. Are you worried about how much TV you watch?
(No 10) (If Yes, subtract S from your total score.)
Conclusions: A score ofO to 75 is an indication that
you can take or leave television. (lf your score is
50
or
above, you are too much on the " take" side).
If
it's 76 to
149, that's a sign of introversion and shows a need to
have more outside interests and activities and to reduce
your television watching. A score of ISO to 180 indicates
TV addiction. You have a desperate need to drastically
reduce television viewing, and to have more outside
interests.
- Patrick A. Parnell
47