Were you raised by TV?

[MysterionMuffles]

If you were born in the 80's like I was, you were probably granted the dangerous luxury of cable and all day long TV. I just want to know what everybody's experience has been when it has come to TV consumption. Personally for me...I learned about family values from TV more than my own actual family. As a kid, I glorified Full House for Danny Turner's peaceful parenting approach, but as I grew older became cynical about how unrealistic it was. Now that I'm even older than an angsty teen, I can look back at that show with a bittersweet feeling of damn...I hate that I didn't get that in my childhood, but at least I had SOME idea of an alternative home life.

 

And since my family was very disengaging, hard to communicate openly with, I found comfort in the intimacy and honesty families had on TV shows. It was a replacement for what I didn't get. If I got it, I think I'd still like the same shows, but not have the desperate clinginess to them as I did wishing I could have what they have. I mean, I can watch inspiring movies about people achieving their goals and striving to be the best against all odds and I relate to it because I'm in the same boat...but man when it comes to seeing wholesome loving families, I can relate in the sense that I have an envy for it.

 

What's your experience with TV and growing up? I feel like TV and video games raised me more than my own parents. I am the bastard child of Super Mario and Peggy Bundy.

[A4E]

As a teenager, I was wondering if I would ever see on TV, a 1-2 hour shouting match between parents, bringing in all of negative family history on both sides that could possibly culminate in violence or object throwing, some random days of the week, originating from such important matters... as molded bread... or... potato that had been boiled too much.

 

I thought this was something normal that some or most parents did, so I was expecting television to reflect that at some point.

 

It dawned on me later that I had drawn one of the short ended straws when it came to parents around in my society. THANKFULLY though, I immersed, no that is too weak a word... I bathed in videogames, which taught me much more and built and trained most of my brain for the future. Had almost no connection to my parents throughout my childhood. Had a lot of connection to my cat. It was mind boggling to me that animals who were supposed to be lower lifeforms were not insane and I could relate to them.

[FireMinstrel]

I would see kids coming home right after school, with their mothers at home, waiting to give them a snack.  It made me feel like a freak, being held up at daycare after school, and not being able to relax.  Daycares tend to be heavily structured, and when I wanted to read a book, I had to sit in a circle and sing songs with the other kids or do other stupid things.

I would see fathers who were intelligent and compassionate.  I had a clown for a father who took nothing seriously and was like an overgrown child himself.  I saw kind, gentle mothers, while my mother was constantly stressed from work and I had to walk on eggshells.

I became very jealous of other kids who had lives more similar to kids on TV.  Then, when my learning issues popped up, TV was often held for a ransom of "Try harder!", which I could not pay.

That's okay...since I need to just re-read this post, and get angry again whenever I feel I'm about to sabotage what I've got going for me.  It's a good motivator.

[LancierDombre]

It was a mixed bag with me.  My mother refused to allow us to get cable.  In the long run, I think that was probably a good thing.  However, it did seem like my siblings and I were primarily raised by the TV and videogames.  I think it definitely warped my sense of normalcy and what healthy human interactions consist of.

 

 

I would see kids coming home right after school, with their mothers at home, waiting to give them a snack.  It made me feel like a freak, being held up at daycare after school, and not being able to relax.  Daycares tend to be heavily structured, and when I wanted to read a book, I had to sit in a circle and sing songs with the other kids or do other stupid things.

I would see fathers who were intelligent and compassionate.  I had a clown for a father who took nothing seriously and was like an overgrown child himself.  I saw kind, gentle mothers, while my mother was constantly stressed from work and I had to walk on eggshells.

I became very jealous of other kids who had lives more similar to kids on TV.  Then, when my learning issues popped up, TV was often held for a ransom of "Try harder!", which I could not pay.

That's okay...since I need to just re-read this post, and get angry again whenever I feel I'm about to sabotage what I've got going for me.  It's a good motivator.

 

This is interesting.  Between what ages were you being sent to daycare?  I never went to daycare, instead we had a lot of extended family in the area.

[Bilderberg CEO]

I was also raised by TV, but I got my values from the Brady Bunch and Cosby. Funny you should mention Full House; I just watched a video about all the subtle inappropriate/weird behavior they had on that show. Stuff like teenagers making out in front of small kids and other weird sexual things.