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Modern technology is both a boon and a bane. The advances we see each year can provide us with many resources. But even the best of them can become a tremendous drain on our time if not used wisely. Television, video games, and even my beloved internet can become, as my sister so aptly put it, just another thing in front of which to spend the entire day.

Given these concerns—and given the ease with which you can passively plop down in front of the “boob tube” to let the day just drift away—I have collected a number of methods to help fend off the power the remote control might exercise over your family. Below you will find some of the best.

Example is Everything

The best idea of all is to be an example. Begging, pleading, and whining will always be less effective than a parent who always has something better to do than camp out on the couch.

Read, play games, work out, talk anything that you have a passion for has great potential to rub off on your children, if they can see you doing it.

Forces of Nature

Call on whatever powers you have at your disposal to cause lightening to strike at or very near your home with force enough to blow out any or all of the components in your television that are necessary for proper function.

This happened to us twice within just a few months last year (even with surge suppressors on our electronics). Sounds nasty, but it turned out to be a blessing!

When the TV, the VCR, the modem, and the motherboard are all lost in the blink of an eye, you may find yourself spending a few days in severe withdrawal (even for a non-television-co-dependent family like ours).

After the initial shock (pardon the pun) wears off, you will all find yourselves doing lots of other things that are actually fun and interesting. Who would have known!!The result was so positive, that I was less than anxious to have the old box return from the shop after its repair. The second incident actually made us a televisionless family, until my folks visited from out of town and could not bear to miss seeing BYU in the Copper Bowl!If forces of nature are not cooperating, take it upon yourself to remove the temptation. Put the devices in a closet or the the attic, temporarily. Have a TV-free week or two.

Outer Darkness

If complete removal of the TV is not desired, an easy way to reduce the amount of time it consumes it to remove it from the center of your home. Instead of having it in the living room or family room, keep the TV in a den or an out of the way spare bedroom. Bring out interesting things (puzzles, books, games) to draw people to the other, TV-free rooms.

Time Allocation

A fairly simple method to reduce TV time, is to allow only a limited number of viewing hours per day, per person. This method would be easy to implement with an only child, but could become a logistic nightmare in a large family. It may also invite semantic arguments of the “But Suzy was watching Lassy. That wasn't my half hour. She turned it on. I was just in the room coloring!” variety.

Speakeasy Window

Use parental controls to password-protect the television/computer.

Pay per View

Television and computer time can be looked on as privileges that must be earned. Some parents have their children pay a small sum out of their allowance in order to watch television.

Chores on Lock

Years ago I read of an ingenious earning system. A basket is filled with many small papers. On each paper is written either a chore or an activity. Each person is required to draw (at random) a piece of paper, and do whatever it says, in order to earn 15 or 30 minutes of viewing time.

The listed items are not punishments or things that are terribly difficult. More than anything they are diversions, ones which often ends up being so interesting that the person forgets about the TV all together. Examples are:

• Clean out the silverware drawe
• Run around the block
• Read a story to a younger sibling
• Jump on the trampoline for 20 minutes
• Write in your journal
• Read a chapter in a book

Stick to the Schedule

At the beginning of each week, the family holds a council. As part of this planning session, each person gets to go through the local TV schedule and choose the program(s) they would like to watch. Once everyone has written down all their choices, they contract to watch only those shows.

Although a bit time consuming in the planning stages, it requires each person to make a conscious choice, based on how interesting a show is to him/her. This eliminates the channel-surfing habit, when someone is just bored and looking for something—anything—to fill the time.

Wait, there's more!

While you may not watch something that you did not initially select, you are also not allowed to skip any programs that you contracted for!

If you decide you really want to watch the Greg-goes-hippy episode of The Brady Bunch, and your friends invite you to go swimming just when it is about to start—well, that'ss just too darn bad! You cannot break your contract.

This last part is my favorite. It forces you to be very selective in your choices!

Reverse Psychology

All you have to do to get your kids to stop watching TV so much, reasoned one mother, is to use it as a punishment.

Now while I haven not personally field-tested this approach, I can think of a couple of kids (not mine, of course) for whom it would be quite effective. One hour of forced Leave It to Beaver for major infractions might do the trick!

Confession

We do have a TV. Actually we have three. We do watch them. Sometimes we even watch too much (although never approaching the staggering statistics that say kids watch an average of six hours per day). But truly I would not want to be rid of the old box.

The power of this technology has the potential of being very beneficial and, consequently, of being very destructive. If we make wise choices about what, when, and how much we use this learning tool—and teach our children to do likewise—we can realize great benefits without all the drawbacks.

Now that you're clean and sober, are you bored out of your minds? If so, pick up a copy of 365 TV-Free Activities You Can Do With Your Child to get your head wrapped around a more active mode. Or, for an LDS perspective, look at John Bytheway's Turn Off the TV and Get a Life!

Chances are you'll find activities you forgot you enjoyed!

Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.