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Reception of religion and media 133

belief. They are able to describe their religious beliefs more in terms of
what they are not, i.e. “no longer Catholic,” than what they are.
Buddhism, and Asian culture, are distinctive features of their lives,
however. 19
Their religion or spirituality is something very personal to them. They
are not involved in religious practice formally, choosing instead to incor-
porate Buddhist practice into their lives at home. Their self-descriptions,
religiously and spiritually, fit the broader category of “seeking” (as – in a
way – do Judy Cruz’s). Sociologically speaking, we expected Judy Cruz to
exhibit media attitudes and behaviors more fitted to her educational and
class backgrounds, to have perhaps been more traditional in her religious
and spiritual tastes than she was. We found she was more complex than
that. Our expectations of the Castellos would also be consistent with their
class and educational levels (they are both college graduates). On the face
of it, they fit the model of the “seeker,” at least in Roof’s terms. As with
Judy, we then need to ask how their media-related attitudes and behaviors
relate to their seeking and to their senses of self.
In fact, their “accounts of media” form an important part of their
narratives of self. As with many other parents, this is expressed most
clearly with reference to their children’s media lives.

Interviewer: Do you have any policies regarding time limits about media
use?
Butch: Music is pretty open. If someone turns on the radio, I wouldn’t tell
them to turn it off unless it was bedtime or dinnertime. (Priscilla
echoes “dinnertime.”)
Priscilla: Sometimes they (the children) want to watch kids’ shows before
school but no TV in the morning because we will be later than we
already always are. (Laughs.) But in general, our overall rule, always
try to find something else to do besides watch TV. Play, instead of
watching kids’ shows, or go for a walk instead of watching a video.
So, we try to take the focus elsewhere because the current in our
culture is to always be in front of the TV or on the computer. And, it
is very hard when we are with other families in their homes because
they tend to be really plugged into the television thing, or videos.

This is a straightforward and quite typical account of parental inten-
tions. Two things are particularly interesting here, though. First, they
seem to make a distinction between music and other kinds of media
(there are few restrictions on music). Second, they express the same expe-
rience we discussed at the beginning of this chapter, the fact that the
media are inevitable. If one family eschews media or controls them,
another family does not. The children are exposed to media anyway, it
is so pervasive. The Castellos are, further, typical of their class and