Turn it Off: First Steps
“Turn it Off, Now !”
“Get Outside, and Go Play !.”
If you hear that and get a little triggered, welcome to my nightmare - but it’s not a new tale. 70’s and 80’s kids will hear Mom talking about the TV. 90’s and Early Ought teens (I can’t keep up with the Gens) will think video games. For everyone younger it’s all about the PHONES which, of course, their parents gave them.
Whether they were scolding us on behalf of our mental health (yeah, we didn’t call it that) or theirs is immaterial. As we reach the quarter mark of the 21st century, their approach to media literacy (they didn’t say that either) looks pretty sound.
The cry of nearly everyone’s parents for the last 50 years will be the guiding light of this Substack. Media literacy is way more than cutting media out of our life, but in the words of Maria, (Do…Re…Mi), it’s a very good place to start, (oh yeah, the movie references and parenthetical asides will be everywhere in these pages, just so you know.)
Personally and professionally, I’ve been wanting to write and speak about media literacy issues to a wider audience for a while. I’ve been privileged to develop and teach media literacy courses at three Christian universities over the last 25 years and - like most profs - always thought I had a book in me on the subject. (many are called, few write - it’s hard !!!)
The latest catalyst to get out of my scrolling chair and put feet to these ideas came from an opportunity to speak at the North Greenville University Chapel last spring. Not only did I have to focus my semester-long class into a 30 minute talk, but the impetus to make it more sermonic (to preach !, as my daddy would say) forced me to confront my own media usage and conclude we now have a spiritual crisis of the modern world where media are concerned.
In short (which a professor should never say), “World, We Have a Problem.”
Media literacy is a journey, and “Turn It Off” will be one meandering road map along the way.
We will be guided by 3 main principles:
DO LESS media - In every post, we will try to address the digital elephant in the room. We are just doing TOO MUCH MEDIA and all of us could benefit by turning it off. Digital media alone take the standard 8 hours, on average, that used to be dominated by television, but at least one marketing study projects an AVERAGE of 13 hours total media usage by 2026. That’s more than half a day (math for COMM PROFS) and 2/3 of our typical waking hours. How did this happen? We’ll keep trying to unpack that and what it means.
THINK MORE - A prof is gonna prof, so I am welcoming you each week into my classroom where I will write about media issues, sometimes commenting on timely news items with a media bent but always with an eye towards educating. As NBC used to say, “The More You Know…” the better your media literacy. Along with turning it off, when we consume media, we need to turn our brains ON, thinking critically about what we see. To do that better, we need to understand the media environment we have co-created over more of a century.
APPLY TRUTH - And for this writer, this Substack, truth comes first from holy scripture. This will be a Christian guide to media literacy (hence, the “Followers”) which seeks to apply biblical insights to our media content and consumption. Additionally, the perspectives of Christian thinkers, traditions and a Christian worldview should figure prominently. A spiritual crisis demands a spiritual response. However, if you do not follow the Christ of my tradition, I think these principles of media literacy will still benefit anyone concerned with the moral and attentional implications of our mediated world. In other words, I am always going to point to Jesus for answers to media questions. I can do nothing less. But you may find and apply truth here that changes you and yours for the better no matter the source. I hope so.
So, that is the philosophy and approach - the syllabus, if you will. Now, we just need to fill in the blanks. I plan to post weekly on media issues - many in the THINK MORE category - sometimes on the news of the day, sometimes on the things I think I think just because. This is not a “bashing THE MEDIA blog,” because there is, frankly, plenty of that out there already. We will look critically at media presentations when situations warrant, but the majority of posts will still fall in the thinking realm, with some TRUTH in every post and a little snark - because, well, this is me, not edited, not getting paid - just because I hope I have something to say.
I will also share some of my other writing and speaking on the “Turn it Off” Substack and the occasional bonus post on related issues I may just want to comment about in a given moment. I hope readers and subscribers will know what they are getting and occasionally be surprised or inspired by our take.
The last category I will try to post semi-regularly is my own journey to “Turn it OFF.” In the chapel message referenced above, students tended to remember one thing months later - Dr. King’s SCREEN TIME ! Yes, I shared it publicly.
I believe in practicing what you preach and if we are going to get better with media we first must acknowledge our own weakness in this area. My screen time was embarrassing and yours might be too, if you start checking that weekly report. Too many of us are quick to say “those crazy kids need to get off their phones,” without looking at the digital specks in our own eyes. You will find parenting advice in this blog, but this is mainly a media check for us grown-ups. We cannot begin to change anyone’s media behavior if we are not willing to deal with our own.
“Turn it Off” is my own charge to keep and new calling for anyone interested. I think, hope, it is the Spirit that compels me to write. And I hope you will share the journey with me and your fellow followers.