Watching TV vs. Blogging

At home I often settle in to watch a movie with my family and soon find it to be not catching my interest. On many occasions I end up reading my feeds, on twitter, blogging or catching up on my e-mail (somehow, I have not joined the texting generation yet). I am leery of the effect this has on family relationships, but I find it an interesting phenomena.


I think that I choose to be connected and creating, a producer rather than a consumer. My theory is that kids in my class are very similar, that is if they are guided towards areas of interest (choice!). My oldest son is a very good athlete yet never liked organized sports with a top-down structure (ie. a coach). He skateboarded and snowboarded for hours each day (and still does) alone and with his buddies. They would jump, somersault, spin and crash, often filming it and posting it to youtube. In a small way, I believe this is the new generation's way of creating instead of consuming.


Back to my theory, people who blog, twitter and build learning communities on-line watch TV less. TV is passive, TV is for consumers, TV is asocial. Creating and collaboration is more rewarding, and more fun. What do you think?