There was once a time when unplugging the television set meant that kids couldn’t watch TV. It was a straightforward, authoritative act that did not leave any room for argument. Those days are now gone just like the days of records, radio programs, and black and white films. It is the year 2007, and media is everywhere. Setting aside music for the moment, students still have access to movies, television shows, and pod-casts from iTunes alone. Factor in other websites such as ABC or YouTube and it becomes clear that there is no realistic way to keep students from enjoying hours of their favorite pop culture. In the comfort of home, TiVo could even make these other sources superfluous, by recording any and every episode of “House”, “Family Guy” or “The O.C.” In many dorms, benevolent house counselors will tape certain shows for their deprived students, who toil away during Andover’s strictly outlined study hours. These study hours (namely, anytime after 8 p.m. and before class at 8 a.m.) are in place, in the words of the Blue Book, “to encourage a campus-wide study environment,” and to reserve time “exclusively for academic work.” After all, if we didn’t have study hours, who knows what we would do all night? Probably the exact same thing we do now. That is not to say study hours are unnecessary (though, in a way, they are). By setting certain restrictions during the evening, the administration only hopes to help students focus and avoid distractions, such as television. This is a worthy goal, but some rules of the Blue Book are no longer helpful in achieving it. One rule in particular is now almost completely ineffective: “Seniors are the only students permitted to be… watching films or television after 8 p.m. on school nights,” (page 14). Only Seniors are allowed to use the television in the dormitory common room after 8 p.m. Meanwhile, underclassmen sit transfixed in front of their laptops, watching DVD’s from the library’s rapidly growing selection, from “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights” to “Requiem for a Dream.” Those with frightening library fines may borrow entire seasons of TV shows from other people in the dorm, and when all else fails, there is always the internet to fall back on. But while it is easy to laugh at the outdated policies of the Blue Book and exploit all the loopholes we want, that would be missing the bigger picture. If you get a season pass for “Lost” on iTunes, you will go over bandwidth, but that is not the only reason not to do it. Watching TV and movies during the week takes away from precious time for studying and sleep. Watching an episode of “The Office,” though it might seem like a good idea at the time, will not ultimately be more rewarding than writing your history paper. Just because we can do it, doesn’t mean we should. Teachers are no longer able to control when or what we watch, so that power is placed in our greedy, video-game-playing hands instead. But then again, the school eventually gives us all the privilege Senior year. Clearly, it’s not that we’re untrustworthy, only that the Blue Book is trying to protect us from ourselves. Without the rule, the reasoning goes, students might sit in front of a screen for hours. Of course, we would eventually suffer the consequences and figure things out ourselves. Meanwhile, left unregulated, iPod headphones have become permanently welded to the ears of many PA students, and CD’s circulate almost as fast as the newest YouTube videos. And there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, that’s the way it should be. With lives filled with work and more work, it is only fair that every now and then we get a break, be it in the form of a new emo tear-jerking single or the more widely appreciated Head of School Day. Many dorms already acknowledge this fact and bend the Blue Book’s words to allow for one post-8 p.m. show per week, or more. This sort of compromise helps to keep students from going over bandwidth, attempting to download a tragically missed show, while maintaining some grasp on the flood of media that the entertainment industry keeps sending at our privileged 18 and under age group. It is when students take advantage of an inadvertently lenient policy that the problem arises. It is when someone spends more time on “C.S.I.” reruns than bringing up dangerously low midterm grades that parents start calling and asking how Andover plans to limit their child’s media intake. And, while cutting off their internet might do the trick, unplugging the TV won’t make any difference.
