Internet one-ups TV

Imagine you have a choice: ethernet cord or television cable cord. One has to go. \nIf you chose a high-speed Internet connection over cable TV, welcome to the growing number of college students who are leaving the couch for the computer chair. Because of a combination of poor programming -- note the reality television phenomenon -- and college students' busy schedules, TV ratings in the college-age demographic are on the decline. Internet use, on the other hand, is way up. IU students who still spend hours in front of the television should note the trend and turn off the boob tube. \nCollege students should turn to the computer for entertainment and news that, rather than dominating our lives, is coherent with our hectic schedules. Students often watch TV to escape from daily stressers, neglecting work they should be doing in the process. Instead of settling down in front of the TV for an hour, students on the Internet can browse Facebook.com, a favorite Web site, or online periodicals between classes and assignments for a quick entertainment fix. \nThe Internet obviously offers more resources for college students than TV. Television is limited, for the most part, to a set schedule of programs on limited subject matter. The billions of sites on the Internet include print and television media sources and serve as a conduit for communication. IU students check Webmail accounts several times a day -- almost as often as they check Facebook -- adding to the massive number of links the Internet completes between its users daily. \nTurning to the computer is a healthier choice for work or relaxation as well. People often lie completely still in front of the tube, but working at a computer requires upright posture and regular movement of arms and hands, burning calories in the process.\nThe Internet, in its simultaneous application to work and play, satisfies busy college students' need for relaxation without TV's sedative effect. Reading a periodical or Web site stimulates the mind, but watching "Will & Grace" requires less brain activity than sleeping does. \nWhen TV burst onto the American scene, it was a mode of communication absolutely unique in its potential to immediately communicate ideas and images to millions of people at once. TV did -- and still does -- hold influence over American society. American households watched more TV this past season than in any season since 1991, according to Nielsen Media. Even American college students watch an average of 11 hours of TV a week, a significant chunk of time. But this average is the lowest it has been in decades, and the numbers are decreasing. \nOur generation has begun to move on from Ed Sullivan nostalgia to which many middle-age Americans still cling. Let's continue that trend toward transition. Internet entertainment, a medium more immediately connected to the rapidly shrinking global scene, has brought more benefits and less risk than TV. We've been victim to our own escapism for long enough. College students would do well to switch off reality television and turn to a diversion more closely resembling reality and less detrimental to mental and physical health. Phase out the TV sets, Hoosiers, and save up for a new wide-screen Dell instead.