With all the ways to spend your time, watching TV seems like a lesser choice compared to playing with the kids, balancing the checkbook, or reading a good novel. Some of the data about American TV habits is frightening:

• Average minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children: 39
• Minutes per week the average child spends watching TV commercials: 192
• Hours per year the average American youth spends in school: 900
• Hours per year the average child watches television: 1,500

• Percentage of Americans that regularly watch television while eating dinner: 66

Unsurprisingly, some families have gone so far as to ban TV entirely in order to rid themselves of the habit. The reality is that the television is a communications tool that can be used with either great of awful effect. To make it beneficial, as opposed to merely a time suck, it must be actively managed.

First, televisions simply do not belong in bedrooms. There is no way to effectively monitor what and how much your child is watching with a set in the bedroom.

Second, the best option is to manage your television with a digital video recorder, or DVR. A DVR is essentially a dedicated computer that records video intelligently. Tivo is the best known name, but cable and satellite companies have their own versions. They all do the same things, but on the ease-of-use scale, Tivo is a 10, Dish Network is an 8, DirecTV is a 7, and most of the others are a 5 or lower.

DVRs can pause live TV and provide instant replay, but the big added value is automated recording. The key when setting up your DVR is to enter all the shows you want your family to watch, up-front. For example, you can set your box to record all new episodes of Nova. The DVR then automatically identifies all the Nova episodes to record, regardless of time or day, and skips duplicates. After you’ve had your DVR running for a week or so, it will be chock-full of the programs you actually want. Thus, when you sit down to watch, the question is no longer “What’s on?,” but “What do you want to watch?” because they are all on!

This is no subtle change. Watching live network TV essentially empowers some media executive to decide what you and your kids should see. Much of the best and most informative programming can be on at odd times and obscure channels. You just need an effective means to sort out the gems among all the junk. Wired Science is starting, but Jane hasn’t finished her homework yet. No problem–it’s being recorded. In fact, after a few months with a DVR, my family largely forgot what days and times our favorite shows are even on!

And then, of course, you can zap those commercials! DVRs allow you to fast-forward or jump (in 30-second increments) through commercials. Most children are happy to watch commercials, but when they are wrapped up in a show, it soon becomes second nature to skip ahead to continue the show ASAP. Once the DVR is fully stocked, the battles over which shows the kids get to watch slow to a trickle. If it’s in the DVR, it’s free game, otherwise it’s only with permission.

Many parents resist the idea of a DVR: “Oh, we watch too much TV already; the last thing we need is more ways to watch”– an understandable, but misguided reaction. My family watches both better and less television with a DVR than without. While that might seem counter-intuitive, I believe there is an appropriate food analogy: consume good quality, eating is more satisfying and you crave less.

Give a DVR a try. It’s the best way to dump television dieting and adopt healthy, long-term consumption habits.

–“Tech Dad” John Svoboda is a consumer electronics enthusiast, manager and business owner since the time of the 8-track, and holds a Master of Science degree in Telecommunications