From Our Readers

Overprotective Parents

What truth you expressed in your article “Young People Ask . . . Why Are My Parents Overprotective?” (November 22, 1984) I could not understand why my mom and dad were so overprotective of me and would get upset with me when I would come in late. Later I became the stepmother of a teenage daughter and soon learned why. It was because they cared about me.

G. H., Florida

Today my mother read me the article “Why Are My Parents Overprotective?” I am ten years old and it seems my parents worry too much about me. When my mom read me the last sentence, “It means you are loved,” I hugged and kissed my mom. It really reached my heart. Thank you.

E. K., Arizona

Improving Grades

I just wanted to thank you for the article “Young People Ask . . . How Can I Improve My Grades?” (December 8, 1984) Everything in that article applied to me. I am 13 years old and in the eighth grade. It is sometimes hard for me to make good grades. I am exactly like those 770 students interviewed. I really thought I was studying, but I wasn’t. TV was my problem! I am going to follow your suggestions of setting goals, exercising self-discipline, and staying away from the TV until my homework is done.

L. T., Kentucky

Influence of TV

I found your article “Young People Ask . . . Is There Anything I Can Watch on TV?” (November 8, 1984) interesting. However, I must contest a basic tenet of the article, stated in the last paragraph: “ . . . the programs can be dangerous. Learn to control it [TV]. Otherwise, it can control you.” The danger of television programs on human behavior is far from proved. You are getting too close to viewing humans as automatons when you imply that television can “control” them. Humans are endowed by the Creator with free will. We have the power of choice over how our entertainment selections will or will not affect our actions.

D. H., Colorado

True, TV programs could only control one if one allowed it. Also, there are more influences on one’s actions than TV. But it is unrealistic to ignore the powerful influence television programs can exert with their effectively programmed combination of sight and sound. It is true, humans have free will, but if they willingly fill their minds with grisly acts of violence, a certain influence is there. The evidence submitted in the report by the British researcher William Belson, the conclusions reached by the National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.), the research done by Dr. Leonard Eron of the University of Illinois, as well as recent statements by Dr. Leonard Berkowitz, professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin, all confirm the negative influence that violent TV programs exert on the regular viewer.​—ED.