Comic strips

Stone Soup to support National TV-Turnoff

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Alan Gardner April 10, 2008 1 minute 1 comment

Stone Soup creator Jan Eliot will use her feature to explore “how generations raised in front of television, computer and cell phone screens cope with having them removed” during National TV-Turnoff week beginning April 21.

In the series, the difficulties of life without television are demonstrated as the teenage Holly tries to make it through the week. With her mother and aunt both participating and enforcing a no-TV policy, it’s up to Holly to fill her own free time, as well as baby-sit her young cousin Max without the distracting properties of “Sesame Street” making her job easier.

TV-Turnoff Week aims to increase “screen-time awareness” among viewers of all ages, with campaigns encouraging “real experiences with real people in real time.” For instance, www.turnoffyourtv.com, a website affiliated with the initiative recommends, “Instead of watching a documentary about birds, go out (with binoculars if you have them) and see how many real birds you can identify in your neighborhood.” It continues, “The purpose of National TV-Turnoff Week is to leave behind judgments about the quality of television and focus instead on creating, discovering, building, participating and doing.”