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“I find television very educational. Every time someone switches it on I go into another room & read a good book.” — Groucho Marx
“Hi Celes, one of your entries mentioned that you do not watch TV or read the news. Not that I’m attempting to incorporate that into my life, but it seems quite unimaginable for me to give up TV or news. I’m interested to know your thoughts on this.” — E
I’ve mentioned on and off that I don’t watch TV, and several readers have curiously asked me why I do that and how I manage life without TV. So I thought it’s about time I write an article on it.
I haven’t been watching TV for a long time since 2006. By TV, I mean watching shows direct from TV networks or channel surfing. I still catch my favorite shows on DVD or online, though the frequency is decreasing. The last new shows I caught were Prison Break and Dollhouse, both of which have ended their runs.
In the past, I was a regular TV viewer like most people. I wasn’t a TV addict or a couch potato, but I would watch TV whenever I feel like it, usually after school and in the evenings. That probably averaged out to a few hours a day. Shows I watched were drama serials, animes, and variety shows on SBC / TCS (now MediaCorp).
Then, slowly, I watched less TV. It wasn’t that I just woke up one day and decided, This is it – I’m not going to watch TV from today onwards. It was more of a gradual transition to a TV-free life. During university years, I’d still catch an occasional drama or two. When I started work, I stopped watching altogether because I was so busy. It remains that way even today.
And truth be told, my life didn’t crash from not watching TV. Looking back, I don’t feel like I have missed out on anything. In fact, I feel my life has changed for the better. In the past years of not watching TV, I have experienced numerous positive changes, such as increased consciousness, more clarity, more time to do what I want, productivity, freedom, and so on.
In fact, about a month ago, I tried watching TV again to see what it would be like after so many years of not watching. I gave myself one hour, but I couldn’t last beyond 20 minutes. The shows felt boring, the programs seemed empty, the advertisements were pointless — it just felt like a waste of time. I’d much rather be doing something else.
There are many reasons why I don’t watch TV, and here I share my 10 biggest reasons you should not watch TV.
1. Watching TV Wastes Time
“They put an off button on the TV for a reason. Turn it off . . . I really don’t watch much TV.” — George W. Bush
Not watching TV has given me a lot more free time to do things I love. I remember in the past, I’d mark out the shows I wanted to watch on my schedule. Then I’d arrange my activities around them. While I was watching the shows, other activities had to be put on hold. I didn’t count, but I was probably spending at least 3 hours/day in front of the telly, if not more. That’s quite a bit of time spent in front of the black box and doing nothing else. In retrospect, that was a big waste of my evenings.
5.1 hours wasted every day
Nielsen research showed the average American watched an average of 5.1 hours per day, or 153 hours of TV a month (Q1 of 2009). That’s one-third of the time we are awake! This figure is increasing too by the quarter. 5.1 hrs/day is nearly 2,000 hours a year, or 78 days – 2.5 full months. Even though these figures reflect the American population, the figures for other regions probably don’t deviate much.
With all this time spent watching TV, it’s a wonder how we even have time to do anything else. Just imagine if we spent a fraction of this time working on our goals – we’d already be making so much headway in our goals by now!
False sense of productivity
The one thing I noticed about TV is how it gives you an illusion that you’re missing out from not watching. At least, it gave me that impression. The TV trailers would go “This Thursday is Blockbuster Thursday – Be sure to catch Movie #1, Movie #2, Movie #3, back to back! You CANNOT miss this!” Or “This holiday season, all the best movies are coming home to you! You won’t want to miss this for anything!“ For a period of time, I’d take time out to catch those shows, and then feel accomplished after I’d watched them.
But these shows never stop airing. They just keep going on and on, and once you are done for the week, new trailers will run. It’s like a vacuum that sucks you in and keeps you there. I also realize that I don’t ever accomplish anything from watching TV. Yes it helps me to relax and chill out at first, but after a certain amount of time, I feel more sluggish and tired from watching. Then at the end of it, there’s no specific output. I’ve gained nothing and done nothing.
2. TV Slows Down Your Brain Activity
There’s a reason why they coined the term “couch potato.” Excessive TV watching turns you into a potato in time. Research has shown that when you are watching TV, your higher brain regions shut down, and activities shift to the lower brain regions.[1] Your lower brain is set in a “fight or flight” response mode. In the long run, your higher brain regions experience atrophy due to lack of usage. There have been studies that TV viewing among children leads to lower attention and poorer brain development.
At the end of the day, you don’t need a medical study to tell you whether TV slows down your brain or not. Since TV is a 1-way medium, you don’t engage and interact. You only sit and watch. When I was watching TV in the past, I would feel sluggish and inert. After a while, I would feel sleepy. Compare this with other activities say talking to a friend, using the computer, reading a book, or writing articles in which I am much more active. Imagine spending so much time in front of TV every day – it’s a matter of time before you turn into a zombie. It’s not a coincidence that heavy TV watchers are also stagnant and passive people.
Here’s an excerpt on the effects of TV on us:
When you watch TV, brain activity switches from the left to the right hemisphere. In fact, experiments conducted by researcher Herbert Krugman showed that while viewers are watching television, the right hemisphere is twice as active as the left, a neurological anomaly. The crossover from left to right releases a surge of the body’s natural opiates: endorphins. Endorphins are structurally identical to opium and its derivatives (morphine, codeine, heroin, etc.). Activities that release endorphins (also called opioid peptides) are usually habit-forming (we rarely call them addictive).
Indeed, even casual television viewers experience such opiate-withdrawal symptoms if they stop watching TV for a prolonged period of time. An article from South Africa’s Eastern Province Herald (October 1975) described two experiments in which people from various socio-economic milieus were asked to stop watching television. In one experiment, several families volunteered to turn off their TV’s for just one month. The poorest family gave in after one week, and the others suffered from depression, saying they felt as though they had “lost a friend.” In the other experiment, 182 West Germans agreed to kick their television viewing habit for a year, with the added bonus of payment. None could resist the urge longer than six months, and over time all of the participants showed the symptoms of opiate-withdrawal: increased anxiety, frustration, and depression.
That’s why people who watch TV have trouble quitting — because they are addicted. If we want to be conscious people living conscious lives, it’s time to break out of the TV addiction.
3. Most TV Content Today Is Consciousness-Lowering
The average TV show today is consciousness lowering, resonating in the levels of fear, guilt, grief, desire, and pride. This differs across TV networks of course – some channels have better content than others. My comments are in reference to mainstream channels/show.
Some examples of shows that are more consciousness lowering than consciousness raising, I feel:
- Fear Factor, a reality TV show where people are dared into doing fearsome stunts for a sum of prize money. You see people getting scared, terrified, forcing themselves through the stunts for the prize money. I’ve only watched an episode where participants were asked to eat a pie of worms, and I can’t say it’s inspiring stuff. I’ve heard about other episodes from friends and they didn’t seem to be done in good taste either.
- Extreme Makeover, a plastic surgery reality show that does “extreme makeovers” for participants. Participants are people who are unhappy because of their looks. They are given extreme makeovers that include surgery, after which they are shown to be happy and confident. It somehow drives an underlying message to use surgery as a solution for low self-esteem.
- Joe Millionaire, a Bachelor-like show based on a ruse. Contestants compete to win the heart of a guy (Joe), thinking he is a millionaire when he’s not. Throughout the show, he lives on a facade of wealth and luxury and the contestants are led on to believe so, up until the finale where the truth is revealed and the final contestant has to deal with the revelation. I don’t see the point behind the ruse. It seemed more of stage antics to draw viewers without any meaningful intent behind it at all.
That being said, there are several shows which have positive influences. For example, I enjoyed the earlier seasons of America’s Next Top Model when I was a teenager (despite it being a seemingly superficial show since it’s about modeling) as Tyra Banks, the producer, drove empowering messages via the show. She would emphasize the importance of inner and outer beauty, a refreshing reminder in our image-centered world today. She would also welcome plus-sized models and shorter-than-average models, making a statement against the fashion industry’s narrow definition of beauty in the form of rail-thin and tall frames. I stopped watching after a few seasons because it just got repetitive and I’m no longer interested in fashion/beauty, but it was mind-opening to know that models and would-be models deal with many struggles, and the way magazines portray them in an idol-like fashion is all a “game” played by the beauty industry and is extremely unhealthy, I feel.
I also liked the earlier seasons of The Apprentice when I was younger (despite the over-emphasis on the drama and finger-pointing at times), due to the few insights I’d gain on project management and managing people in each episode. Oprah, Ellen and Tyra’s Shows are empowering shows too, based on the few episodes I’ve caught on and off.
Here’s one way you can use to see if something is consciousness raising. Get a sense of how you are feeling first before watching the show. Then as you are watching the show, take a moment to assess how you feel.
- How are you feeling? Happy? Joyful? Upbeat? Motivated? Inspired? Or scared? Worried? Annoyed? Disgusted? Angsty? Weighed down? Stressed?
- What are you thinking? Positive thoughts? Or negative thoughts?
- What do you feel like doing? Do you feel charged up to take action? Make a positive difference? Or do you feel nothing? Lazy? Just want to go and sleep things away?
If it’s the former group, then the content has consciousness-raising effect; if it’s the latter then you can probably do better without it.
4. Lack of Quality Shows
By quality, I’m not referring to production quality. There is no dispute that production quality today is higher than ever. Quality refers to the content of the show.
The Message Driven in Shows
Back in the late 1990s, when I was a teenager, I remember watching shows which were unique, shows which defined moments in TV history. One example is Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Joss Whedon. While seemingly a childish teenybopper show to people who have never watched the series, Buffy was an iconic series and is listed as TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, Empire’s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time and Time’s The 100 Best TV Shows of All Time). That’s because Buffy represented many strong themes, such as female empowerment, loyalty, friendship, love, growth, redemption, and triumphs over life’s difficulties. It would pave the way for shows with empowered females such as Charmed, Alias, Dark Angel, and so on.
But today, there is hardly any show with that kind of impact. Many have nice production values, but they seem more like exaggerated drama and entertainment than anything else. For example, earlier seasons of Charmed would have a “message of the day” embedded in each episode, which gave the viewer something to think about afterward. However, in the later seasons especially after Season 4, this became replaced by repetitive dialogue and rehashed plot lines. The show totally went downhill, in terms of the plot and story, and it was just empty entertainment after a while. I watched, I followed the story to some extent, but I never felt like I walked away from each episode with any message.
Overdone Content
There’s too much of the same stuff nowadays, and lesser genuine, informative content. Looking at the local TV program schedule, it consists of the usual few travelogue/food tasting shows, variety shows on slimming/shopping/fashion/etc., 2-3 ongoing singing/talent competitions (alternating between American Idol and local English/Chinese/Malay singing competitions), reality shows of some sort, and dramas with cookie cutter plots. It’s much faster for me to get the information I want from the internet than to wait for TV networks to churn out something meaningful.
The genre of reality TV was interesting when it first started, but after some point it became overdone. After a while it seemed like network producers were just doing one reality show after the next, creating different spin-offs which barely last. I’ve lost count of the number of singing competitions and sequels — how many do you need? There is merit for a singing competition, but after a while, it seems more like the TV producers are more interested in producing successful talent shows than discovering talent.
Over-Commercialization
TV networks are getting overcommercialized. There are more sponsorships and product/service placements in shows than before, more than half of which aren’t related to the show themselves (American Idol as an example). Back when I was watching American Idol (Season 4 or 5), it was strange seeing the finalists sing and dance to a Ford music video every week. There were a total of 4,151 product placements in its first 38 episodes during season 7. I’m okay with commercial advertising, but only where it is relevant and beneficial to the consumer. Most product placements today seem force-fitted. It’s as if the network producers prioritize commercial needs over viewer needs. I believe it’s possible to integrate both together, but producers seem to not have found the sweet spot yet.
In the context of Singapore TV, there has been numerous local variety shows commissioned by sponsors (for example, a beer company or a beauty company), and these shows seem to be more advertising outlets for the companies than being genuinely informative.
5. TV is Linked With Lower Life Satisfaction
Research has shown that heavy viewers of TV report lower life satisfaction and higher anxiety.
Many of us watch TV, specifically drama serials, because we want to see the stories unfold for the characters. What’s going to happen to X? What Y get the outcome he/she deserves? Will A and B get together? What will the ending be? It’s all very exciting, and the cliffhangers keep us yearning for more. Then for the whole week, we wait excitedly for the next episode to see what happens.
I realized many of us watch TV because we see ourselves in the characters. That’s why TV network producers study viewer demographics and produce shows in line with our needs, so we can relate to the characters. We see the characters living life, going through tumultuous challenges, overcoming them and finally achieving what they want. We feel happy for them when they get their happy ending. But what we really want is the same happy ending for ourselves.
No matter how many shows we watch and how the characters develop through X episodes, watching TV isn’t going to give us the life we want. To get the life we want, we need to get out there, take action and create results for ourselves, not live vicariously through TV reels. The happy outcome is ours for the taking — if we start working towards it now.
6. Pointless Advertisements
Watching advertisements is one of the worst ways to use our time. A regular one-hour segment is made up of 40 minutes of actual content and 20 minutes of advertisements. That’s 1-third of TV viewing time, which is a lot. The ads are either a trailer for an upcoming TV show, an advertisement for a product/service or an infomercial. The adverts are rarely ever relevant — usually we buy the products because we see the ads, not because we need the products. Many times it’s just an ad to scare us into buying something. This is linked to the next point, which is…
7. Not Watching TV Saves You Money
TV drives us to buy things that we won’t buy. Whether it’s the stand-alone advertisements or integrated product placements, we get spurred to buy things when we see them. And there’s a reason why, too. The advertisements have direct messages and subliminal messaging to drive us to purchase. Research has shown heavy TV viewing is linked to higher material aspirations.[2]
The fact of the matter is, most of the times we buy things because we saw the ad, and not because we have a real need for those things. The adverts play on your fears and desires to trigger you to buy their products. They tell you, in one manner or another, how your life sucks now and how you will be happier and live a better life after you buy that product. How many times have you watched an ad and thought Wow, I have to go buy this when I drop by the store next time, or That looks good, let me add this to my shopping list? Have you ever thought if you really needed any of that?
Consumerism and purchase is rarely a solution for happiness – it’s usually a coverup for unhappiness. We might be happy the instant we buy something new because it is an immediate gratification of a current need, but in the longer term, we dip to our previous state of desire and dissatisfaction. It has been proven that more material goods makes us happy to a certain extent. Beyond that point, one’s satisfaction level in life stops being correlated with wealth/consumption. Read Materialism Breeds Unhappiness for more on this.
It’s been a few years since I stopped watching TV, but I reckon the products advertised are pretty much the same. Shampoo, skin care, toothpaste, slimming services, make-up, food and beverages, restaurants, furniture, etc. In the past, I can be buying different brands of cosmetics, shampoo, and skincare in a few months, even though I have not finished using my previous products. Most of the times these purchase behaviors are triggered by ads I see on TV or elsewhere. After I stopped watching TV (and subsequently adverts), I have much lesser consumptions inclinations. I only buy things when I need them. Naturally, this cut down my expenditures too.
8. TV Sensationalizes
“The media can wreak great harm on the family when it offers an inadequate or even distorted vision of life, of the family itself and of religion and morality.” — Pope John Paul II
There is a lot of sensationalization on TV. Sometimes it’s the sensationalization of what’s there, making it bigger than it really is. Other times, it’s something created out of nothing. A lot of things are hyped up. Scenes of people crying, bickering, fighting, taboo, sexual content, ugly human behavior etc are played up a lot, especially on reality TV. Many times, they don’t serve anything other than to create drama and it’s quite pointless. If I’m a TV viewer, I’m watching to either (1) be entertained (2) be informed or (3) be educated. I don’t find hyped up content to be entertaining, informing nor educational. Biased content that reflects the intentions of the TV producers yes, but none of the 3.
There’s also the sensationalization of TV news, which is a whole different topic by itself. I’m halfway through writing an article on this, and will be publishing it within the next week.
9. Your Life Is More Important Than the TV Schedule
When I used to watch TV, my schedule was tied to the TV programme schedule. Hence, if the TV networks were airing my favorite show at 7pm Wednesday, I would have to free up my weekly Wednesday evenings. When the show started, I would have to abruptly pause whatever I was doing to catch the show. The same thing applied when commercial break ends. After the episode ended, if it was a cliffhanger, I would wait in anticipation for next week’s episode. It was like my life was being steered by TV.
After I stopped watching TV, my schedule was freed up. I stopped planning my life around the TV schedule. For the shows I do want to watch, I watch them on demand, either online or via DVD. There’s no need to wait for TV networks to air the shows I want to watch.
10. Build More Meaningful Relationships
TV is one of the favorite pastimes in families. They spend evenings in front of the TV screen, watching show after show. Even though everyone is sitting together in the same room, they aren’t bonding with each other. Each of them is just developing an isolated connection with whatever is on the TV screen.
Now, imagine if all this time is spent talking to each other. Say, asking how each other’s days were, understanding each other, discussing tomorrow’s plans, being a part of each other’s lives, just hanging out. Isn’t that a more meaningful way to connect? Why build a connection with the television and characters on screen when you can be building a connection with real people? TV might be a proxy to bond with each other, but it’s clearly more fruitful to bond with each other directly. I definitely find the latter more meaningful than the former.
Occasionally, my friends and I will have sleepovers at each others’ houses. Whenever the TV is switched on, everyone gets glued to the show that’s airing, and no one ever talks. Then after say, 2-3 hours of TV watching, the night is over and it’s time to go to bed. Compare this to when we spend the 2 hours catching up. Suddenly, we gain new levels of understanding about each other. It’s a lot more rewarding than watching TV together.
What’s Next
After all these years of a TV-free life, I doubt I’ll ever return to watching TV. With the internet and the prevalence of social media, there’s a lesser place for TV in our world today. My information and entertainment needs are readily met with the internet. Out of my list of things I can do, TV is not even on the list.
Alternatives To Replace TV
Here are more rewarding and fulfilling activities to replace TV:
- Exercising – Jogging, swimming, playing sports, cycling, aerobics
- Catching up with friends
- Reading a book
- Journaling, Writing, Blogging
- Strolling/Hiking
- Take a course/class of your interest
- Hanging out with friends
- Talking to your parents
- Organizing your room
- Meditating
- Setting your future goals
- Planning for your goals
- Doing things you love
- Read the reader favorites at PE
- The list goes on
Another resource on why you should not watch TV:
Try 21 Days Without TV
If you’re unsure of whether a TV-free life is for you, try out a 21-day program without TV and see how you feel. Let me know how it goes ;)
This is part of the Cultivate Good Habits Series. Check out the full series:
- 21 Days To Cultivate Life Transforming Habits
- Waking Early: 9 Reasons To Wake Up Early | 21 Tips To Wake Up Early
- Quitting Soda: 5 Reasons To Quit Drinking Soda (And How To Do It)
- Improve Your Posture: Benefits of a Good Posture (And 13 Tips to Get One)
- Be TV-Free: 10 Reasons You Should Stop Watching TV
- Being On Time: How To Be On Time
- Meditation: 10 Reasons You Should Meditate | How To Meditate in 5 Simple Steps
- Manage Emails Effectively: How To Manage Your Emails Effectively
- Run Barefoot: 10 Reasons To Run Barefoot
- Emotional Eating: How To Stop Emotional Eating (6-part series)
“TV drives us to buy things that we won’t buy.” The intense and very persuasive advertising on TV that is targeted at kids has a very negative effect on their lifestyles. The marketing of artificial values and cheaply produced, unhealthy junk food to children is just another blight on our prosperous society.
Free enterprise badly needs adjustments Celes, to provide our kids, future parents, with something better.
Hi Celes!
Great Article!
My time on tv also decreased in the last few years. Our TV-Provider is taking always the good channels out of business ^^. So more and more I used to read more books or spend my time with great videogames :).
greetings,
CrEEp3r
I couldn’t read the whole post because the commercials ended, had to bet back to my show :-) But I do agree with many of your points. I tend to watch a lot of sports on TV. You didn’t really cover that above. I feel like it’s watch real life (most sports anyway) as it’s not a scripted outcome. It’s also my big escape.
Hi Celes,
Just wanted to say how much I agree with your article. I haven’t had tv for about four years now. I used to sit in front of it all day, channel hopping because I had seen everything. I finally realised enough was enough and decided to not watch any more.
I would much rather read a book, do a jigsaw, paint, or talk to my children. I still have them ask me now and again about having tv, but as I live in an area with no reception I would have to pay for sattelite, which isn’t going to happen as that is total junk.
We still watch dvds and they do have Wii and Xbox, but time on those is strictly limited to one hour each on weekends and now the weather has improved they are usually outside all day anyway.
I will say there is one programme I still watch which is Lost. I usually have it taped for me and as it is almost over soon there won’t be any tv shows that I watch.
Our lives are certainly better for not watching bad shows all evening, I wish more people would turn off now and again. Unfortunately, most people I know plan their entire lives around the tv schedule instead of actually living their lives.
A woman after my own heart. I haven’t watched TV in YEARS (except for LOST) and I hardly read the news (except for plane crashes and natural disasters so I pray for the victims). I can’t stand either the TV or the news and all your reasons and more are why it should be the trend. Besides I don’t even enjoy it. There is SO MUCH more to do with our time and our life than watching others live fake lives or report out sensational news with media biased opinions…..I do love movies though :)!
Bravo–the most thorough discussion of the downside of TV watching that I’ve read. I especially liked your list of alternatives at the end. I haven’t watched the news in years, and I could happily do without cable TV (I do like uplifting movies), but I am married to a man who LOVES television. We have worked out a compromise, though. We tape select shows. I actually like a couple of them. We watch 1 or 2 shows a day at the most, and while he watches, I am with him in the room but doing other things. I have a blog of dog and cat pictures with wise sayings, and I work on that (it makes me feel good). I catch up with social networking. I knit. I draw. In other words, though the television is on, my focus is on the things that I enjoy, and because we tape the shows, we watch a show in about 45 minutes (no commercials). That leaves us time to talk and hang out together doing other things. TV can be a positive thing if you use it in a way that serves you instead of you serving the needs of advertisers/networks.
I think this is fabulous! I have been encouraging people to turn off the box for many years. I can’t think of one hour of television that I have ever watched that made me a better person, or better at what I do. When I hit the switch, I was amazed at how productive and more thoughtful I became. Great article and thank you from a like minded soul!
Thanks Celeste..
You have a great blog… I think the issue abt TV has been argued to death… I have personally stopped much of TV watching for ard 3 years except for special occasions. But since the web started, i have a problem of reading random stuff online to get inspiration which i think is a waste of time but this message sometimes slips my consciousness. I believe balance is the key to this issue.
I would like to know your opinion on this and for you… do you think abt personal excellence everything and nite and all the content you read and think is abt tht?(extreme focus)
Thanks Fara. I’d say it’s about being clear of your end objective (https://personalexcellence.co/blog/end-objective/). In this case, what’s your end objective of reading online? It might be to get inspired to work on your goals. It might be to gain new knowledge. It might be others. Keep focused on the objective and identify which are the sources that will specifically help you in this. Then stick to them. Losing focus always comes from losing sight of the objective.
Great article Celes.
I totally agree with you. I have not watched TV since my son was born in 1998.
By not watching TV, we have more time to live our own lives the way we want and create our own experiences instead of living through the lives and experiences of someone else. The best memories come from life’s experiences. We can only build memories with experiences, our own experiences.
Life is too short to spend it by watching others living their lives.
“We should know watching TV isn’t going to give you the life you want. Isn’t it more fruitful to get out there and create results in your life, rather than live vicariously through TV reels? Rather than watch the lead characters overcome challenges and score victories, wouldn’t it be more meaningful if you are the one doing that?”
I love this line (point #5) very much,
and it’s what I think I’ll share to my brothers, as well as some of my friends.
Simply put, watching TV puts you in the states of DEPEND-ing, instead of DEFINE-ing (ie: creating) your Life! it’s a “fake” illussion put on you.
on the same note, I would also like to add that even though Internet is great, sometimes a person can also ‘escape’ too much of Reality, by constantly browsing, and/or watching Youtube all the time!
It’s all about creating our own life, rather than just depending on “something” ,…….’cuz we know that “thing” would never create REAL results in our life.
(the best TV could do IMO is to do 2 things: for relaxing/winding-down time, and also, like you said, if it INSPIRES you to keep creating more things in Life :) ).
Thank you for a very well thought out article. At the very least, it is causing me to think about the TV that I am watching. I read an article by Darren Hardy, author of Success Magazine, and he essentially said the very same thing. The amount of time freed up to pursue goals and relationships is astounding, once TV is reduced or cut out completely. It’s very helpful to look at it as a positive thing (cutting out TV), and to see all the benefits that it will bring, instead of thinking: “It’s bad for me, I’ve got to stop.”
5.1 hours a day that is insane. Strangely enough I wrote a VERY similar article a few months back and made some calculations too. It’s insane the amount of TV that an average person watches. Imagine what size dent you could put in your long term goals with that sort of time on your hands. You won’t even miss it if you put yourself into something passionate and exciting. My post is over at http://richardshelmerdine.com/blog/2009/09/29/why-you-should-stop-watching-the-news/ if you want to check it out.
Fabulous, Celestine, 100% echo your observations.
Despite the focus on over-eating, smoking, alcohol and drugs the one habit much of the Western world can’t break is television. Very little new learning, sensationalist shows and news bulletins and murder and mayhem as standard have hooked us in. And you are so right that it wastes our time when we could be doing so much that is constructive.
I believe this article should be available on prescription through doctors or be part of a public information lealet available in all public outlets like libraries, malls and the like. The more who read it the more will respond to it. A first class health practice to develop as well.
Thank you Celestine for such a splendid post.
John
it’s not only in Indonesia.
the news here in Indonesia is pretty much the same, always highlighting more of the *negative* news. and thanks god that just in today’s newspaper, in the “Opinion” section there is a reader’s commentary that said media (including newspaper) should stop only giving out the bad, negative news, just because it’s more SELLING and/or INTERESTING.
I think it’s pretty much the same everywhere, in that negative news tends to be -somehow- more ‘interesting’ to the general mainstream people, than the positive news
(although personally, I always prefer the latter type, and avoid the former!).
and like Celestine said correctly, all it does is -sadly- just creating more “negative” energy/vibes, in people’s subsconcious mind, and hence it even ‘inspires’ them to do those negative things too! How entrapping is that!
I am just glad though that there’s a thing called Internet,
and that there seems to be a huge growth of self-development & motivational blogs, articles, and even speakers, in our era compared to the past.
The world needs to change,
people need more “positive”-ness in life, rather than kept fedding-up with “negative”-ness.
+1 person that is not watching TV .
However, I do follow the news -Technical for the most part- using Google Reader and Twitter .
I have not watched TV for more than 10 Years, it’s when I decided to be productive and started contributing something to the word.
You’re totally right, TV = Total Vacuum .. and a Productivity Killer . And I deeply have experienced every word you said in this article .
Thanks everyone for your feedback :) I’ll also want to note that this article isn’t specifically against TV as it is against the average content aired on TV nowadays. After all, TV is just a medium and not a message. For sure, if more empowering and consciousness raising content starts getting aired on TV, there’ll be more reason to watch.
Hi Celes,
My name is Simon and I’m currently 1 year and 1 month of TV.
I moved to a new apartment and forgot to apply for cable. In a short period of time it’s made a significant (positive) influence on my life and I’m never going back.
You get more time for yourself, to read, to exercise, to engage in meaningful conversation with our friends and loved ones. Your in a more active state during the evening and getting the most out of it (the opposite being a passive couch potato consuming the mind numbing food).
I really encourage everybody to stay away from TV, a month at the minimum. You won’t miss a thing and will get valuable time in return.
Keep up the great work Celes!
Best,
Simon
You missed out one very important reason..
11. There’s always the Internet! :P
Great article Celes,
Whilst I won’t be getting rid our TV’s any time soon (I love my sports too much for that), I have certainly been able to free up much more time over the past few months by limiting my viewing and being more selective.
In that time, I have been able to start my own blog and spend a lot more time exercising and I’m feeling great about both.
Keep up the great content!,
Cheers,
Darren
whats Celes last name or first name
Great post Celes,
I have split loyalities here, I am with Darren with regards to my sports but I guess its not overdone content as it is new games each week ;-) I do however, severely limit my usage of t.v activity to almost twice a week and that is to keep up to date with sports news but now I have an iphone i can do that on the go, so the T.V will be gone very soon.
Love the blog
I have been to your site a few times now, and this time I am adding it to my bookmarks :) Your posts are always relevant, unlike the same-old stuff on other sites (which are coming off my bookmarks!) Two thumbs up!
Gr8 post – tweeted and fb’ed it. Like you and most everyone committed to personal excellence, my TV viewing is way down. Even prefer my restaurants TV-less [& if they attack me with Faux News, where’s the fire exit, please?] That said, I feel it’s not really about TV. Would you recommend people stop using knifes after you cut yourself last time you used one? It’s not “it” but how you use “it.” Among the b.s. there’s excellent TV, too. And by the time you get even more famous and powerful – as you will! :-) – and you introduce “Personal Excellence TV” to the world, maybe you’ll want people to watch more TV once more …
I’d like 2 smash my TV into amillion pieces
Tv, to some extent, is important but in the end, it’s an immense waste of qualitative n productive time for any young teen out there who has a dream n goal that wants it played out. thnx Cele. we appreci8. hit me up if u want to make me a frnd.
Hi Celes,
Have been reading your blog and now follow on FB/ Twitter… Real good job… Looking forward to more interesting stuff.
Thought-provoking post…. I think the problem is the content (or most of the content anyway) not the medium itself. There is an interesting analogy that Dan Meyer, a math professor, makes in TED (See link – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWUFjb8w9Ps). While it is about how math s taught in schools in the US, how correlates it to TV content.
He talks about how David Mulch, a famous TV producer who has in the past created popular shows like NYPD Blue does not produce contemporary shows anymore. Dan Meyer mentions that research shows that after watching four hours of TV a day, individuals tend to have limited patience to solve life’s problems since they expect it to be resolved in half an hour complete with three commercial breaks and a laugh track…..
:) I am so glad i found this, I read it all through n through an I agree with you 100%
For me my TV days ended just last year, I was watching TV feeling angery (could see the cracks in the wall of the system) And then half way trhough a news broadcast I got so angery at the bullshit they were spreading (marijuana being demonised again) I just switched off unplugged it an threw that son of a bitch into the outside bin.
It been about 7 Months now and I feel so much more invigorated and capable of rational and cognative thought,
I see a TV at my mates but I do not stop to watch it, I avoid their lounge only giving the TV a glance when I go to the fridge (we smoke cones in the smoking room, only tv in there is a security camera)
Lol Isnt it a bit creepy how hypnotic a tv screen can be? and all this Digital TV setop box crap being pushed onto the happy consumer!?! (Another thing that made me Regurgitate the existance of television)
My mates all watch tv and always say shit like “this is why I watch the news” when shit like the oil spill happens an I reply “What you can’t read the paper or goto a news website?” 8)
But We dont’ debate, I respect the fact my mate watches The News because it was the news that made me see that TV is a form of not Mind control but Manipulation of the Masses, it gives people an illusion of their place in society and the world an Illusion of their reality, It induces fear, mistrust, anger an Greed..
Children fall prey easier an its why these days 80% of Children want to be a Celebrity/Singer/Actor (All three the same shit) There is VERY LITTLE if ANY Encouragement an influance to be smart, to study and learn… Why don’t They Have Documentry Saturday? Instead of Saturday disney…
Education need not be boring if it is done in the rite way it can be exciting…
Please if your reading this someone, Go to youtube an watch the entire series of
COSMOS by Carl Sagan (Wish they put it on tv)
In closing Celestine :mrgreen: I am glade to see I am not crazy lol (Every word you wrote confirms my theory) An that I’m not alone, that there are many many others out there waking up.
Hi Celestine,
My name is psychicjim ( Jim Cassa ) from Australia, and I am your newest fan!
Letting you know I admire your writing style and your articles are a great read,
thank you,
When I was a youngster, my parents decided tv was a bad influence on me and my sister, so they put it in the closet… they weren’t ready to get rid of it yet, but for several years there was no tv in our home. I was still mesmerized by cartoons etc when at friends’ homes, but I didn’t miss it at home. I remember a childhood full of playing with my parents, reading great books, being outside, and DOING stuff: not sitting and watching other people do stuff.
Now I have 3 kids of my own. We have a tv, but it’s not hooked up to cable or any sort of service, no local channels, no nothing. We watch movies, that’s it. I keep up with news by listening to NPR or another news radio station and I can do that while still keeping up with other important stuff (like changing diapers and washing dishes…). :)
At this point in my life especially, I don’t have any brain cells to waste so I sure don’t want to make them mushier with tv watching. And I have SO many other important and invigorating things in my life: playing with my own kids, spending time with friends, talking with my husband, working, gardening… living my life.
Best,
Annie Mueller
I think we should create more awareness about the harmful effects of watching TV.
This article reminded me of my eight year old cousin who is completely addicted to the ‘idot box’.
In the world of David Hawkin’s enlightening books, still being stuck to the TV only seems to be an outdated thing. :wink:
Five years ago we got rid of our T.V. It took a while to convince my news-junkie husband to do it. But our 8 year old son has benefited the most….he is brainy and spends most of his time building, reading and inventing. T.V. has never been a part of his life (neither has video games).
No longer do I get sucked into DAILY negative news on T.V. about horrible things that happen to people. Just last night, while driving, I was I heard on the radio about a little girl who was horribly murdered and they told details of her painful death. I was spurred into a bad mood, depressed and I found myself ruining dinner with my family because of that mood. I was reminded of how bad news just permeates my body and negatively affects me and then anyone around me. I’d rather hear about the beautiful things that are happening, so that I can embrace that instead.
Without T.V. we are doing more important things with our time. As a family of three, we play board games and have “journal” night where we write in our journals together.
We also spend a lot of time at the beach and in the back yard, fire pit burning, talking about stuff.
We have movie night on Fridays where we watch documentaries online that our son can watch, and comedies that make me laugh.
I highly recommend that you try it – turn off your cable for a month and see what happens. Do it just for the summer. Your family may object, but after a couple months they will see the brilliance in it.
Our son proudly tells his friends “I don’t have t.v. I read books instead.” And it makes me proud to hear him say that!
Hi,
Good learning points, new generation most of addicted in computer not in T.V,
Niluka
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