“TV will never be a serious competitor for radio because people must sit and keep their eyes glued on a screen; the average American family hasn’t time for it.” – Author Unknown, from New York Times, 1939
Life is meant to be lived, not watched.
To get you started living your life rather than watching others live theirs, consider these ten reasons to watch less television:
- It is influencing your worldview. Anybody who has ever been a policeman, a lawyer, a psychiatrist, an ER doctor, or an FBI agent will attest to the truth that television does not accurately portray their life. In almost all aspects, television rarely depicts the world and life accurately. Too much television results in disillusionment about what to expect from the world around us. This can most commonly be seen in people’s expectations of love, romance, and sexuality.
- It is influencing your spending habits. If you think you are immune (or too smart) to be influenced by the power of advertisements, you are wrong. Corporations do not spend trillions of dollars in advertising hoping to influence you. They spend trillions of dollars because they know they will influence you.
- It is taking you away from the real people all around you. The characters on television are not real. They are thought up in an office building and given life on a piece of paper. In contrast, you are surrounded everyday by real people living real lives. These real people are facing real problems. They need you. And you need them.
- It is robbing you of precious mental energy. When your television is on, your concentration is held hostage. Your mental energy is drawn into the screen and your ability to control it is given up.
- It is costing you money. Americans spend over $6 billion per year just paying for the electricity to power their television sets. Add in the cost of cable/satellite bills, dvd’s, movie subscriptions, peripherals … and we’re starting to talk about real money.
- It impairs your capacity for rational thought. TV oversimplifies reality. It presents subjects in a matter of minutes and everything is nicely wrapped up at the end. This harms clear thinking by conditioning you to expect that most problems have a simple, clear solution that can be implemented in 60 minutes or less.
- It is bad for your health. Numerous studies (and common sense) draw direct parallels between excessive television watching and obesity.
- It results in less satisfaction with life. According to the Journal of Economic Psychology, TV viewers report lower life satisfaction, higher material aspirations, and more anxiety.
- It results in less sex. Couples who keep a TV in the bedroom have sex half as often as those who don’t. And if you ask me, that should be reason enough…
- Its opportunity cost is too great. The average American watched an average of 5.1 hours of television per day in 2009. That’s time you could have spent exercising, eating a meal together, entertaining, enjoying nature, meditating, enjoying a hobby, reading a book, or fulfilling a dream.
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Thanks for reinforcing my decision to cut myself off from the TV set.
I’ve been having an interesting thought though. We can address the TV problem by simply turning it off – but isn’t there also value in trying to make TV better? We don’t, for example, think of reading books as a valueless, mindless activity.
I don’t think that TV as a physical broadcasting medium is bad – but that the programming leaves a lot to be desired. Part of that has to do with the business model of TV stations – lots and lots of advertising to pay the bills. But what if we could change the television into another way to deliver useful, thought-provoking content?
Just thinking out loud. Thanks for the post, Joshua.
They are all good points, but I especially agree with #2. When I spend money I like to make an rational, informed decision, not because a basketball player told me he likes a certain brand of potato chips.
I agree and disagree. Regular programming is mindless, but my viewing is done on the History Channel and Discovery. These are programmed well and I find many programs that stimulate thought. They encourage me to buy books on subjects I wouldn’t normally show an interest.
I would have to agree about how channels like History and Discovery can actually gives you a lot of information.
But for me, instead of having a TV just to watch certain channels, i would rather buy a book (if you’re a History Channel fan, you can always find any interesting history book at the book store or even at the library). Just think again, you have to pay for the electricity every month to power the television sets. Meanwhile, a book only costs you a bit and of course you don’t have to pay anymore once you’ve bought the book. Not to mention that you could easily sell/donate/return the book once you’ve finished reading it.
Once again, this is another opinion of mine.
That is very true. That’s one of the reasons i think TV should be watched but in a controlled manner.
We do not have a TV. To see anything of quality you have to pay for cable or dish. We refuse to spend our money that way. We would rather read or something else.
How are your logical reasons above for a television set not applicable for a computer screen? I’m a real person but in your mind, am I any different than someone sitting in the audience at the Grammys?
I don’t watch a ton of TV, and I do agree with a lot of the points on this list, but coming from someone who has been around a lot of voracious readers – points 1, 3, etc. easily apply to books and the internet as well as TV. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a reader, but just something to think about before we decide to look down on TV for those sorts of things. Everything in moderation.
Speaking of moderation – 5 hours of TV a day? Seriously?! I don’t consciously limit my TV watching (but I don’t have it on unless I’m actually watching) and I could never come close to viewing 5 hours a day. That’s quite shocking to me.
I just read the first comment about making the content on TV better, with less advertisements, and I absolutely agree!
I partially disagree with how “points 1, 3, etc. easily apply to books and the internet…”
First, reading text opposed to listening to a politician’s “sound bites” or watching the “History Channel” (see links below) is far easier to compare and form a truly informed stance (#6). So no, the points in the article do not easily apply.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utDHcbiOfKY
or read basically the same thing: gawker.com/5869335/the-history-channels-secret-to-success-no-history
A possible addition to this list: a TV tends to force (or correlate with) a less social arrangement for living rooms. In the vast majority of living rooms with a television, all seating is facing the television, a setup that makes it difficult for people to focus easily on one another. It’s something that has always bothered me.
Wow, this is something i’ve never thought before. I’m absolutely agree with this.
Move #9 to #1. Nine is a weird place for that one, anyway.
I couldn’t agree more. Every point is spot on, and I’m about to yank the TV plug for good. A few months back we went from costly expanded cable to $16 basic service (networks, home shopping – gag – and some Spanish stations). We probably watch two hours of TV a week and that’s news while we’re making dinner or reading. We can get the news online or not at all – life continues to move on just fine if I’m not in the loop on the intricate details of the oil spill. I’ve never cared much about TV and am always the one who is clueless when talk of reality shows comes up anywhere. I’m surprised I haven’t given it up for good yet – stay tuned – no pun intended :)
Thanks for a great post!
After lightening hit close to our house in June 2007 and fried every piece of electronics, we decided to NOT replace the TV. For nearly two years we were TV-free — even with two little kids. It was the BEST thing we ever did because our children were free to create, to explore and to learn without the compromising influence that television programming brings. Even now with three kids, we have one television but no cable. I truly believe we are happier because we are able to apply our time pursuing more fulfilling activities. Thanks for the great post! Be well!
I absolutely agree and appreciate the focus on LESS t.v. It is not t.v. (or the internet, or ___) per se, it is the love/obsession/addictive qualities of these venues that we need to reflect on in our own lives and adjust as needed. 5 hours a day on average? Really? That IS alarming, especially when you take into consideration the fact that many of us are watching closer to 5 hours a week. Thanks, as always for your insight!
You reminded me of my experiments in TV freedom, and a couple of great books on the effects of television on people:
http://bookishheather.wordpress.com/2010/05/14/resisting-the-idiot-box/
It seems very popular these days to jump on the TV is evil bandwagon. Maybe it is. can understand these points, and agree with some of them, but agree that they can be applied to things other than TV. What about mindlessly surfing the internet? I waste more time doing that than TV. And if I read at the end of the day I’m reading fiction for entertainment, not instructive nonfiction.
Plus sometimes by the end of a long day I want to just sit back and relax. I don’t need more time to work or “get things done,” I do enough of that already. I need to refresh and relax each day as well, and a good show or movie provides that for me. I already exercise daily, cook and eat at home, spend time with friends and others, and work all day.
This is so spot on! I was just thinking last night how much I have been missing by not having a television for the past seven years: mostly viewing sex and violence. And, come on, everybody knows that reality t.v. is anything BUT reality. :) Thanks for sharing these great thoughts.
Me and my wife gave up watching TV almost one year ago and I can tell that from this moment up to now we had much more time for sex, reading books, talking and etc. Moreover we are much calmer than before and have really good time together.
#3 and #10 go well together.
Thanks for this list.
I’m ready to unplug.
turns out, the best thing that ever happened to me was when my DVR broke. as a result, i barely watched TV for months. even when it was fixed, i have hardly watched TV since.
it has been glorious. more time with people, much much more reading!
Yep I haven’t watch much tv in a long time. I’ll say I’d rather read interesting post and articles on the net. Actually I’m curious if everybody stopped watching tv where would the hero’s go? Where would most people find role models? Maybe one day will find out.
#9 is my favorite :) haha
Hmm… I don’t watch much television — and I don’t have cable, dish or anything fancy, just rabbit ears on an digital converter box and an old TV. I even still have a VCR for recording the rare program that I want to time-shift.
I do enjoy watching the obscure British sitcoms and dramas that I obtain from a source in the UK. The quality of writing in some of those comedies inspires me to write better. And a comedy show is a great way to end the day.
Still, I wonder if I would function better if I watched less…
I agree tv is a waste of time and limits the possibilities we could be having. Once you are forced to stop watching, you open up a whole new world of entertainment. Real life.
~Gio
I didn’t replace my old TV after reading ‘Remotely Controlled: How Television is Damaging Our Lives’ by Aric Sigman and it has improved my life (this is coming from someone who loved TV dramas like The Sopranos). I’m planning on getting rid of my computer soon as I waste far too much time on it. I have also got rid of my washing machine and dishwasher to live out a simpler life.
Another thing is watching TV before sleeping really has a negative effect on your sleep. A good book on this is ‘Lights Out’ by TS Wiley.
Great post, and great comments! I often feel guilty for spending so much time on the internet, although I only use telly occasionally, if I really had a bad day and need to wind down doing something totally passive.
Internet however does many of those things to me which are descrbed above… :-( But I`m getting more conscious, so I hope that`ll be a start for getting better int ime…
All good reasons for ditching TV. Nicole and I have TVs out of necessity (we are gamers, after all), but short of playing PS3 or streaming commercial free stuff to our 360 once in a while we rarely use them. We don’t even have cable, though I admit I WOULD like to catch the series finale of Lost! :p
I agree with you that everyone should stop watching TV as an endless stream of information. When it comes to control the internet is a much better medium than TV. I choose what websites to look at. I have control over what I’m going to read, see, hear and therefore think and feel. If we could only use the same kind of control for watching TV. But wait! We can!
Watching TV is not bad, just the way a lot of people use it. Watching a good movie or TV show with family and friends (or alone for that matter) isn’t wrong. Just make sure you are in control of how much time you spend behind that thing and what you watch.
@Laurie: “Regular programming is mindless, but my viewing is done on the History Channel and Discovery. These are programmed well and I find many programs that stimulate thought.”
Have you tried listening to the audio of the programs while doing household chores, without looking at the TV? I was washing up the dishes and listening to a program on the history of comic books just yesterday, and I didn’t feel like I missed anything relevant.
Also, you could try listening to a PBS station with the “SAP” or equivalent button pushed. The audio description for the visually impaired is excellent, so you won’t miss any of the action. I used to do this with “Nature” and “Wild America” and some other nature and science programs. The writing was excellent, almost like spoken poetry.
You can listen to TV without watching it, and you will accomplish so much more!
OK, but after the Habs lose in the NHL playoffs. Promise.
I think I could ditch my tv (I would still watch stuff at friends’ houses sometimes), but my b/f is passionate about film. And we live in a studio apartment…no walls between rooms! My life is better with less watching anyway, and it’s better without a car. I think I need to find really good activities to replace the tv time with, otherwise I’m afraid I’m “researching” on the internet too much.
While i have weaned myself off the tv addiction, i replaced it with another. It’s called the INTERNET!…..
Jim Trelease’s Read Aloud Handbook gives a lot of research about how turning off the tv can help children in so many ways, but especially with reading skills:
http://www.amazon.com/Read-Aloud-Handbook-Sixth-Jim-Trelease/dp/0143037390/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279762963&sr=8-1
I rarely watch T.V. anyhow, but I can’t really agree that it is simply no good for anything. There are so many things to be learned from everything! I generally only watch the History and Science Channels and I don’t necessarily find anything wrong with that… I mean, they present so much info that you just probably won’t find any where else! If only silly shows like most reality T.V. series were banned. I mean, T.V. really is the same as books, and very similar to the internet…
People are always totally shocked by our lack of a TV set. We’ve had at least 3 friends offer us one, as if out lives aren’t complete without it. We watch the BBC online which is great as there are no ads, the program quality is exceptional and you simply can’t channel-hop, something which I used to spend most of my TV time doing!
I chose not to have a television in my home more than 20 years ago (although I did watch an hour or so a day as a kid, and I obviously still have a computer), basically because of the empty feeling it left me with, and a sense of dissatisfaction for time “not well spent” whenever I let myself be “suckered in”.
Since I had a kid, I have been struggling off and on with the negative/positive indoctrination/education aspects of television. My four year old now gets twice 30 minutes a day watching kid DVDs. I try to supply him with relatively harmless content (like Winnie the Pooh and Thomas & Friends). He had no screen time before he was 2. So we’re kind of on the low end of the television watching spectrum…
Unsure where to take this in the future (darling son is of course always clamouring for more!), I did some basic internet reseach and put together some references to (spine chilling) scientific conclusions in an article (a mega post unfortunately: I do not yet possess Joshua’s flair for saying it all in a few hundred words!) about why television time is definitely “evil” for kids. Folks here might be interested in taking a look…
All ten reasons a really good. But in my mind, the most important is number three. People really should spend less time in front of the TV or computer screen and spend more time outside with real people like family or friends.
All good reasons to watch less TV but it’s important not to demonised all TV. Each weekday I watch BBC Newsnight, I think it’s important to stay informed. I also watch documentary, primarily on BBC 4, Jonathan Meades is a brilliant broadcaster for instance. And I can’t do without Match of the Day on Saturday night to keep up with the football.
The point is be selective with TV, plan what to watch and try not to just sit down for the night and let it wash over you.
Check out http://www.titovalenti.com/ for an interesting take on this subject… Given the audience here, I figured I’d post even though as a piece of fiction it works better when the reader doesn’t explicitly know about the connection to TV.
TV isn’t evil. It is a tool that can serve a good purpose when you are in control over it. Banishing it from your home or life and assuming that’s the right choice for everyone is kind of elitist. Why I like TV better than you… sometimes: http://wp.me/s2nzPY-129
Good points. On the other hand, TV enables me to “travel” to Europe to the Monaco Grand Prix or “tour” the island of Madeira where my grandmother grew up. And thanks to DVR, I can record the good stuff and skip commercials. It’s not that I haven’t considered cancelling the cable service at times, but chose instead to exercise self control and use the most important button on the remote: OFF.
but i love my tv
tv is awesome (to me though) all hail tv
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