I loathe commercial broadcast; it exists solely to broadcast commercials, any actual that might come along is an afterthought.
Over here many "one hour" programs finish after 40 minutes We cut the cord in '12 and haven't looked back. I didn't want my kids growing up thinking it was normal to be bludgeoned with high-volume, high-pressure advertising screaming for your attention 24 minutes of every hour.
As opposed to (un)social media? That seems to have taken over the role of broadcast TV, and become a form of narrowcast entertainment.
Not in my home. The only one in the house with Furkbook is my wife; she uses it for her private music students. I pulled the plug on them years ago. Kids have no social media whatsoever; I don't even have online accounts for my son on his XBOX or Pokemon League (though this may change once I configure parental settings).
That aspect of the internet is toxic. I'm not letting them near it until they're old enough to actually understand the real dangers of communicating with strangers, and I've comprehensively trained them in bullshit-filtering and made them appropriately sensitive to that inner voice telling them
"Danger Will Robinson, DANGER!!!".
Hell, the only (anti)social media I engage in is here and RCGroups. yoobToob I use only for entertainment/self-education; right now almost exclusively
Uncle BumbleFuck &
LTT to keep up on the current evolution of computer hardware. For someone in the IT industry, I'm a fucking Luddite.
Others will say I'm depriving my kids; I say
I'm acting as a much-needed firewall between them and the dregs of humanity.
I know just how dangerous the internet is: It has fueled the revival of the Neo-Nazi movement just as it was nearly dead and ashes; it has provided ISIS (and whatever other boogeyman of the week) and GOP terrorists alike broadcast channels for their sociopathic ideologies, and it is the primary avenue of commerce and communication for drug warlords, child molesters and slave traders the world around. The viral disease that is Corporatism uses it to individually target viewers with customized brainwashing content to promote its goal of global megalopoly, while at the same time engaging in the hostile takeover of entire sovereign nations. These and a thousand other horrific evils run rampant beneath the global communication waves, just waiting their chance to strike.
So no; I don't believe it it unreasonable to drastically limit my children's exposure to it, until they're old enough and I can equip them with the tools they need to survive in this dangerous space. As I said; use of the
Internet is an ADULT-SUPERVISED ACTIVITY in my household. I see it as nothing less than mandatory essential parenting in the Information Age.
mnem
"Daddy; you need to log me into..."
"No, no I don't. There is NOTHING THERE that you, a small child, NEEDS."