Watching is not the same

Suspicions that television is not the greatest thing for children have been in the news again. Of course there is the angle here that you can spin it out that watching TV is obviously time spent that could have been used reading or playing in a more imaginative way.

One thing I have always struggled with is the idea that watching television is educational. It is a passive activity and you might pick up a few facts and figures but it doesn’t ask as much of its audience as an author does of a reader. Children should of course have a choice but parents should not be suckered into thinking that television can replace the experience of reading.