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190 Believers, dogmatists, and secularists

Japan for a few years. Like the other “metaphysical seeker” families among
our interviews, they stress the issue of time use more than content as an issue
in media practices in their homes. Also like the others, they resist the idea
that parental rules about media use would be restrictive or moralistic, and
think of this as making them distinct from other families that are either more
moralistic or less restrictive. When asked about media use, Priscilla says,

Priscilla: . . . 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 else-
where 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.
Interviewer: And you have made a conscious choice to really limit televi-
sion and interaction with media?
Priscilla: Yes... we also try to make it . . . umm . . . not so . . . there is
the feeling that . . . for us it is, I don’t know how the kids feel . . . but
to try and make it feel natural. . . . Like, in our household, it isn’t that
we are trying not to watch TV, but rather... we just don’t. That’s just
not part of our daily thing.

Others among both our mainstream believer and metaphysical seeker
households wished to separate themselves from the “typical” parental
complaints regarding “media sex and violence.” For some, of these more
liberal or progressive parents, it was important that it was violence, not
sex, that concerned them. For the Castellos, it is neither sex nor violence,
but monopolization of time and materialism that are the issues.

Butch: I think if there is one advantage that we can provide to our chil-
dren, it really is an advantage for them, I think, not to be controlled
by the computers, TVs, the media.
Priscilla: Well, you are also being controlled by consumerism. That is the
other thing. You know, our kids never say, “I want this brand of
clothing or that toy.”

We have seen that for many of our interviewees, it is difficult to make a
direct connection between their religion or spirituality and the media they
consume. For most of them, it makes the most sense to think in those
terms when the media in question are self-consciously and intentionally
“religious” or “spiritual” media. For many, however, there are differences
in media in this regard, with music and film more likely to evoke authentic
religious or spiritual responses, and television less likely to do so, particu-
larly among our mainstreamers and metaphysicians. Kim Anderson is a