Monday  |  May 10, 2010  |  00:00 AM

I can remember an episode of "The West Wing" about the Death Penalty that moved me to reflection and contemplation like few kinds of media ever have. And I can remember an episode of "Dexter" I wish I hadn’t watched. So from this I ask: TV or not TV? This may seem like an interesting topic to discuss in relation to global outreach, but I think our view of the world and the media are interconnected.

To start this opinion piece, you have to know my context. For the past year and a half, I have been living in an intentional Christian community. The 10 of us come from (primarily) suburban Christian homes where the parenting we received was cautious of the media we took in. As we got older and our faith progressed, few of us had moral constraints against much of anything on television and some of us even lived in housing situations where television was on almost all of the time. This background influenced our discussions together about having a TV and watching TV. Now granted, it wasn’t a lengthy discussion in our community (as opposed to say, the nature of our prayer life together or the dishes rotation) but it was a consideration. We stepped into this community looking to simplify our habits and live more connected to one another. So a natural movement was to eliminate cable TV. Two members of our house already had a nice television, so we kept that and made the decision to use it for watching the occasional movie or TV show on dvd.

What this has meant for our group is that rarely does anyone watch television alone. Everyone does naturally need alone time in a community setting and occasionally that means watching a Hulu show on your laptop in your room. But for the most part, whenever we take in some television, we do that together. There is a link between media and isolation and in subtle ways we’re trying to fight that. Once a week a few of us go to a friend’s apartment to eat dessert and watch "LOST." Some Friday nights as our house event we’ll watch "Good Eats" or "How I Met Your Mother" on dvd. But in general, the TV is not on. A default position I think we’re all thankful for.

Some of us would love to see our media eliminated entirely, but we try to make decisions by consensus and move as the group is ready. As individuals have felt more convicted by how much television or video games or movies they were watching, the group supported them in what they believed the Spirit was leading them into, whether it was a seasonal fast or a permanent elimination. We constantly have to fight judgmental attitudes and I believe we’re all working to support each other in the convictions God is moving them towards without seeing ourselves as less if we don’t have that same conviction. When it comes to the morality of different shows, there have been a few instances when someone was struggling with what we were watching, and asked to turn it off. Everyone’s always responded well and the discussions we’ve had as a result of this have been fruitful. All of us want to fight consuming any sort of media without filtering out the good from the bad. For me personally, I have been working to take in less normative violence in any form of media. And for us, this has been a helpful process when done in community. We refuse to let TV become too central in our life together or become an addictive behavior, but we recognize we’re still human and sometimes need some life-giving, de-stressing episodes of "House" or "Supernatural."

This has meant that when people are talking about the latest SNL episode or reality-show cast off, we can’t relate. But chances are we’ve played a great game of ultimate Frisbee or been on a beautiful hike in the past few days. We’ve probably made it to a near-by screening of an interesting global documentary or had a great conversation in our living room with our latest couch surfer. And for us, each month we have a little more money to use on a need in our community rather than on our cable bill. So I would love to leave you with the thought that if God moves you away from cable television, you’re not alone. And if you still watch TV sometimes, you’re not alone in that either. And we recommend Christian community challenging you and surrounding you wherever you are.

When I spend time in another country, it is often without television and I don’t find myself missing it. I’m happy to sacrifice TV viewing for cultural experiences and opportunities to serve. And interestingly enough, perceptions I have about countries I’ve spent time in were often misinformed by television or movies (with the exception of informative documentaries, which can be helpful but can also be highly biased). I put to you that often our connection with television and other media keeps us from global engagement. Now, this is not the only thing keeping us from involvement in the world, nor is it an entirely bad medium, however because of television we’ve lost the culture of collective storytelling. We rarely spend time listening to the stories of our neighbors, let alone others around the world. Now there exists a medium that gives us new stories and often ones perpetuating the Western culture of consumerism, materialism, and individualism. Likewise many of my cultural stereotypes came from the media rather than from real stories and experiences with those from other cultures.

So my suggestion if you’re interested in continuing your awareness of the globe: turn off the TV for a while. Maybe not forever but maybe so. Just open up a conversation with someone nearby that you might have overlooked before. You could visit a nearby shelter. Or if you’re living in an area anything like mine, driving just a few minutes might give you an entirely different cultural experience than your neighborhood. My hope is that your community will support you and you can find friends or family who enjoy this kind of learning with you. Encourage your churches to continue to build relationships with those in your neighborhood from different cultural or racial backgrounds. Don’t let the media skew your perspective on issues and peoples around the globe: learn without the TV!