Imagination and Television

Some people claim TV is good for improving children's imagination and creativity. However scientific studies show otherwise, like this one which studied 400 short stories of kids aged 10-11 year old:
"the ubiquity and ease of access to television and videos perhaps robs today's children of the need to pursue their own thoughts and devise their own occupations". The scientific study also highlighted how children are becoming less creative and imaginative due to tv. ("Television and imagination" by Belton T, in Media, Culture and Society, 2001, 23)

Another good article is:
TV as hyposis

"Robert Kubey and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi did a study which appeared in Scientific American in 2002[1]. Participants carried a beeper which beeped several times a day and when it did, they wrote down what they were doing and how they were feeling.When beeped while watching TV, people recorded feeling relaxed and passive. What was surprising was that the relaxation ended as soon as the TV was switched off, but the feelings of passivity and lowered alertness continued.

Additionally, the participants had more trouble concentrating after viewing than before, and EEG studies showed less mental stimulation (identified by increased alpha brain wave production) while watching TV. Neither occurrences happened as a result of plain old reading.In other words, we associate "watching TV" with "being relaxed" (so we do relax), but after we finish watching we can't concentrate, feel sluggish, and become as stressed (or more so) than before.

Despite all this, of course, we keep on watching."

Diabetes and Television

Increased risk of diabetes (Type 2) is linked to watching TV (at just 2 hours TV a day). Another scientific fact to remember, when the average person watches 4 hours a day. It was a study involving 8300 adults from 6 medical institutions, and found "a deleterious effect of TV time on the risk of abnormal glucose metabolism in adults"

Reference "Physical activity and television viewing in relation to risk of undiagnosed abnormal glucose metabolism in adults." Diabetes Care. 2004 Nov;27(11):2603-9.

But also consider this which indicates more to TV than normal. The study showed that children's resting metabolism was reduced more than if they were to lie there and do absolutely NOTHING. See "Effects of television on metabolic rate" Pediatrics, 1993, 91

Here's a news article on it:

TV time tied to diabetes and early death

Keep updated for more scientific studies on the affects of Television (TV)

Hazard Warning: Actions have consequences

Our actions have consequences, even when its not obvious to us. I know it is an obvious thing to say, but many of us don't think about it.

Take the example of facebook. You can do three things. You can share neutral, beneficial or harmful stuff. So basically you can either share halal or haram stuff (since neutral is halal). So if you share beneficial (like Islamic knowledge or about justice) stuff, you get reward, and so do others who read it and act upon it.


But if you share harmful stuff (like haram pictures of poorly covered men or women, or haram/unIslamic music, or women singing in front of men), then you sin, and the people who see that stuff sin too. For example, they look at women in those videos who are exposing their legs, or awra (private parts in Islam, including the hair of women), and their eyes sin because they look at the haram, or they get desires for the singer because of it, and so the original sharer and all the sharers sin. 


And what's worse or good (depending on how you use it) is that it can start a chain reaction where maybe 1000 people share it, and you get the good or bad deeds of all those people. Furthermore, it shows the world that you are committing the sin and I am scared of this Hadith:

The Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said: All my community are saved except those who disclose their sins. It is among disclosing one's sins that one commits a sin at night under Allah's covering and then wakes up in the morning telling someone "I did such and such", after sleeping under Allah's covering and waking up baring Allah's covering. (Muslim)

Or when you decide to buy something. You can use your own money to either support something good, or support something bad by buying them. You can either support products of businesses that support the poor, and then you earn good deeds (if you have intention for Allah).  Or you can support haram industries or businesses by buying haram stuff. Such as if you buy haram/unIslamic music, then you help the shaytanic music industry grow, and it increases the fitna (tribulations) in and decay of society, and makes more people fall into the fake "beauty" trap, thus lowering self-esteem in society, causes more psychological problems and distances people from Allah swt.


I will let you decide. Here's the Hadith where the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:
“He who inaugurates a good sunna in Islam earns the reward of it and of all who perform it after him without diminishing their own rewards in the slightest. And he who introduces a bad sunna is guilty of the sin of it and of all who perform it after him without diminishing their own sins in the slightest.” (Sahih Muslim).


And what's of much hope, or scary, is that these good deeds or bad deeds that one starts can continue after one dies. So please be careful with what you do.


So lets try to do this:


1) share and encourage beneficial Islamic material on our facebook/twitter and other forms of technology, including the old "word of mouth"


2) don't share or encourage haram material on our facebook/twitter etc,


Insha'Allah we will NOT regret this when we die. But what will we regret? Lets ask the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), because he is given knowledge about the future and said:
 "The People of Paradise will not regret except one thing alone: the hour that passed them by and in which they made no remembrance of Allah." (Tabarani)


May Allah swt take us to Him in the best of states, ameen!


For more on exposing sin, see:
http://spa.qibla.com/issue_view.asp?HD=7&ID=13843&CATE=1

For a detailed explanation on music in Islam, see:
http://spa.qibla.com/issue_view.asp?HD=1&ID=1786&CATE=142

For an explanation of the awra in Islam, see:
http://spa.qibla.com/issue_view.asp?HD=10&ID=2039&CATE=128