I love television. Since childhood, I have been fascinated by the concept of painting pictures with electrons on a phosphor screen. As a result, one of my hobbies is repairing television sets. I like to pick up dead or dying TVs and VCRs at yard sales and try to resuscitate them. I have acquired TVs of all different shapes and sizes. I have one that I can stick in my pocket. I have another that projects a picture that is too large to be useful in my home. There is a TV in just about every room in my house.

To me salvaging TVs is fun. But TV repair is not for the uninitiated or uninformed. Behind that pleasant looking cabinet lurk serious dangers. TV picture tubes are driven by extremely high voltages (26,000 volts in a color set), which can be present even when the set is turned off and the power cord is unplugged. And while modern sets are designed to minimize the risk, picture tubes can emit significant levels of x-radiation.

Therefore, when you work on TVs, you must observe a number of rules. You always assume that high voltage is present. You never work in a damp area or in an area where your body might be grounded. You always make sure the anode of the picture tube is fully discharged. You never reach into the back of a TV set with two hands, and you put your free hand in your pocket to prevent an electrical pathway through the chest area. You also pay close attention to the warning labels inside the set. Failure to heed such rules can result in serious injury or even death. Those who do not know what they are doing are better off to heed the outside warning label: "Do not remove cover. Not user serviceable. Refer repairs to qualified personnel."

But there are other dangers connected with television. One of them is watching it. I am not speaking here of the dangers of X-rays or eyestrain, but of hazards far more subtle – though no less real. Like TV repair, TV watching should not be a casual pastime. Failure to understand what you are getting into when you turn on the set can have serious consequences. Proper safety procedures must be followed when watching TV, as is the case with many other pleasurable activities.

Used properly, TV has a great deal to offer. I have watched many educational, instructive, entertaining, informative, creative, and even edifying programs. I can't agree with everything in them, but I would be lying if I pretended that I have not both enjoyed and benefited from them.

Nonetheless, there are serious risks connected with watching TV. Most of them have to do with the way the medium gives a distorted picture of life. For example, TV truncates the realities and experiences of life. The limits of the medium require that complex issues be distilled to a simple or even trivial level. Consider thorny family or social problems. The space and time constraints of TV require that all problems be portrayed in such a way that they can be raised, wrestled with, and resolved in a thirty- or sixty-minute period. This teaches us to expect instant answers to difficult questions. But this is not realistic. Life is much more complex than TV suggests.

Similarly, TV is unsuitable for portraying the more subtle or understated aspects of human life and behavior. This is one reason why such subjects as the significance of religious belief, the struggle with guilt, and the gentleness of a long-term loving relationship are rarely portrayed on the small screen. TV has little capacity to describe them.

Consequently, TV reverts to stereotypical descriptions. The personality disintegration brought about by bitterness becomes one-dimensional violence. Sincere religious belief is either reduced to mere sentimentality or caricatured as fanaticism. And even though feelings of guilt are one of the major motivators and shapers of life and character, they are too subtle to portray very effectively on TV. This also helps to explain why TV so often reduces the richness of love to sexual encounters. Passion is easy to portray, but the dynamics of true romance are much more difficult to describe. This is a limitation that is inherent in the medium. Even on a color set, TV's depiction of life is little more than black and white.

Furthermore, TV has the ability to set up a whole fictional world or worldview and make it seem plausible. This is, of course, part of what makes TV interesting and entertaining. Even though travel beyond the speed of light is not (at least at present) even theoretically possible, TV can create a world where "warp speed" is common as one goes where no man has gone before. This ability to create imaginary worlds is part of the appeal of TV and is one that it shares with literary fiction.

However, these same powers can be used to present an interpretation of the world that is quite different from the one provided for us in the Bible. This is a serious problem. Most of the worldviews reflected on TV suggest that religious (and especially Christian) belief is archaic, that immorality is common and without consequence, that it does not matter what you believe or do as long as you're sincere or feel good about yourself, and so forth.

TV often opposes the Christian view of life by portraying wickedness and selfishness as normal or even virtuous. Consider the character Hawkeye Pierce in the acclaimed series, M*A*S*H. Hawkeye is seen as a capable and caring surgeon, who is not a bigot like Frank Burns. So far, so good. But he is very proud of his surgical skill, constantly tries to seduce the nurses, is contemptuous of all authority, and copes with the horrors of war by abusing alcohol. However, because the writing is so clever and genuinely humorous, we are tempted to overlook this neutral portrayal of serious vices.

Frequently the rejection of biblical values is more explicit. Many shows condone or even glorify sexual immorality or perversion, marriage without commitment, drug and alcohol abuse, murder, and violence.

Finally, TV puts one on a collision course with Madison Avenue. TV is not a public service, but a commercial enterprise. Its very existence depends on its ability to convince us to buy the products it advertises. TV, then, seeks to be a persuader – and not a hidden one. At the very least, TV tries to manipulate us to keep watching it–in order to burn the vivid images of advertised products into our heads, so we will buy those products when we see them – and to tune in next week for the next exciting episode, so commercial messages can be reinforced.

To accomplish these goals, TV seeks to raise the level of our covetousness by making us discontent with what we have, or by trying to convince us that we will remain unfulfilled until we obtain this or that thing. Have you ever noticed that you can't just buy a soft drink anymore? What is offered is a whole way of life. If you want to think young and have a lot to live, you need only drink one brand. If you want to experience something "real" in your life, have another brand. And remember, most of these appeals come to us when we are tired after a long day's work and want to relax. Our guard is down and we are more open to the suggestions that are being fed to us.

I could go on, but you get the picture. Watching television is serious business. It is not for the ignorant and uninstructed. If you are going to engage in it, you must follow some guidelines. Without pretending to be exhaustive, let me suggest a few.

• First, be an active TV watcher, not a passive one. And train your children to be the same. The power of the media to manipulate us is greatly reduced if we are aware of what they are trying to do. This is more difficult than you might think, but we can begin by being alert to the dangers mentioned above.

• Second, do not use the TV as a babysitter. If your children are watching TV, watch it with them. As you do so, debunk the commercials when they promote non-Christian values. Create in your children a healthy cynicism. Fast food chains don't just "do it all for us," they do it to make money – and lots of it. Remind your children that there is more to life than the kind of clothes they wear, and more to love than the kind of coffee they share. The same holds true for programs. Without trying to spoil the pleasure of every program, seize opportunities to remind your young people that life's problems and solutions are often much more complex than the formulas suggested on TV.

• Finally, do not use TV as a substitute for other life experiences. Don't just have your children watch Sesame Street to improve their reading – read to them and encourage them to read. Don't just have them watch Nature – take them on a walk or to a zoo or museum. Don't have them crave cookies that almost taste homemade – help them make some that are homemade. Don't have them just watch cartoons – encourage them to draw their own (or, in these days of camcorders, encourage them to make their own movies). Don't just have them watch sports – take them to a game or encourage them to play.

TV has a proper place. Make sure it stays there. Used with care, it can add something to life and be a source of pleasure, useful information, and even enrichment. But it does not hold a candle to real-life experiences, and it is certainly no substitute for them.

There is much more that could be said, but I hope you get the idea. Take it from an old TV buff. Whether you work on televisions or watch them, be careful. As enjoyable as both activities may be, there are real dangers involved. You should not work on a TV if you don't know what you are doing, and you certainly shouldn't hand your child a screwdriver and tell him to have a go at fixing it. Likewise, if you are going to watch TV, you need to exercise proper care and caution – and teach your children to do the same. If you can't do that, consider giving it up. To rephrase the warning label, if it is not user serviceable, keep it covered!