Life change can be hard, really hard. There is a reason we make resolutions every January 1. We desire to grow and improve and live life to the fullest, but getting there takes discipline and work and effort. Too often, we fall short of the desired change we desire to embrace.
But there is one change available to us that is as significant and beneficial as any of the others. The decision and implementation are really not that difficult. In fact, almost everyone I have ever met that made the change recommends it.
Watch less television.
Consider the negative effects of television on our lives and the consequences of allowing too much screen time for kids.
It is bad for our health. Numerous studies draw direct parallels between excessive television watching, obesity, and poor eating habits. But we don’t need studies to tell us we eat less healthy when watching television. We already know that.
It distracts us from the real people in our lives. 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. They need you. And you need them.
It influences our spending habits. Corporations do not spend trillions of dollars in advertising hoping to influence you. They spend trillions of dollars because they know, eventually, they will gain some control over your spending.
It costs us money. We spend money to power our television sets. Add in the cost of cable/satellite bills, dvd’s, Internet channel subscriptions, movie subscriptions, peripherals … and we’re starting to talk about real money.
It, literally, causes us 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 intimacy with your spouse. Couples who keep a TV in the bedroom have sex half as often as those who don’t.
And those are only the ones we are aware of. When we consider how television influences our worldview, impacts our kids, changes our mood, and demands our mental energy, the downsides of too much television make an almost airtight case to watch less of it.
But statistics say we watch television nearly 40 hours per week. 40 hours! That is 2,000 hours we could have spent last year doing anything else, experiencing any other positive habit: learning, reading, growing, contributing, or pursuing a dream.
When I decided to watch less television years ago, I was immediately forced to fill my evenings with something else. We spent more time together as a family. We spent more time outdoors. I began to write more. I decided to visit the gym in the evening. I took more control over my life and my decisions. These are all good things—healthy habits—and cutting out television provided opportunity for me to accomplish them.
Not only are the negative effects of TV detrimental to our lives, the opportunity cost is great. There are just better, more life-fulfilling things we could be doing with our evenings and weekends.
If you agree, here are some helpful tips to reduce your personal television watching habits.
1. Begin with the decision. Most of the healthy habits that emerge in our lives are the result of an intentional decision. If you agree that your life may improve with this simple change, embrace it. If you don’t think it will improve your life, review the above list again.
2. Less can be different than none. Put down your defenses. I’m advocating less, not none. I realize some TV can be educational and entertainment is not necessarily an exercise in futility. We still have one TV in our house that I watch occasionally. But I do watch far less… and maybe you should too.
3. Limit the number of televisions in your home. One of our first steps in reducing clutter in our home was to take the TV out of the kitchen. As an unexpected result, I began to discover how much I enjoyed cooking. And removing the TV out of our bedroom reminded me how much I enjoyed…
4. Find a good season to start. While this habit could be incorporated at any time, nice weather outside (or a busy season) provides a natural opportunity to enact a change—especially if you have family to get onboard.
5. If necessary, go it alone. Speaking of family, just because you are personally feeling challenged in this area does not mean they are too. That’s okay. Make the change in your own life first. Become the change you would like to see in your family.
6. Be intentional about planning something else. Go for a walk. Find a book. Join a club. Or pick up a new hobby. Intentionally picking something else to do will keep the temptation to a minimum.
7. Try to eliminate specific shows. It may seem easier to make sweeping generalities such as, “I’ll stop watching TV on Thursday nights,” “I’ll turn off the TV at 10pm,” or “I’ll cut out all reality shows.” But for us, at first, it was easier to pick some specific shows that we could easily live without. When we started to experience the benefits of living life rather than watching it, it was suddenly easier to cut out even more.
8. Know it gets even easier over time. Television is a self-propagating habit. It promotes its own self-interests by boldly declaring the Best New Show, Most Watched Network, Can’t Miss Episode, or Game of the Year. They play on our fear of missing out. But as you commit to watching less, you are less persuaded by these claims because you see them less. Quickly you will realize you aren’t really missing that much anyway.
Life change can be hard. But some decisions have a greater beneficial impact than others. And watching less television just may be your quickest shortcut to better living right away—it only takes the decision to hit the Power-Off button.
John says
Joshua,
Thanks for a great reminder to focus on the important, and the artificial lives that TV portrays is far from important.
This past February, I put my TV on time-out for one month by placing it in storage. It hasn’t been out since, and my life is significantly improved!
blessings,
John
http://www.thehillofbeans.com
LL says
14 years w/o tv. Never miss it. 2 DVD/wk from Netflix in the mail. Nice flat screen embedded into the wall with rotating photos from all over the world via Chromecast. We have become big readers. Early to bed; early to rise. Have passed this lifestyle down to adult child. None of us do the FB thing. (Think it is for 11 year old girls.) No mag subscripts either. All about sans commercial/ads. Live in a beautiful area where we can be outside 365 days a year. We would rather sit on the front porch and watch hummingbirds in our fountain, while reading, in the evening. Food for the soul.
Jane says
I have not owned a television since 1982. My husband and I do go to movies at the theater and occasionally watch one on our computer. We spend our time gardening and working outdoors, reading, cooking, working out, and hanging out with friends and family. Can’t say I miss TV because I quit watching so long ago. I was in college at the time. The only place it hurts me is on crossword puzzles because I don’t know some of the popular culture references! ;-)
Hannah says
Awesome and convicting post!
Rob says
Yes, very well said. I gave away my TV over a year ago and it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. I now have more time for my hobbies and reading. There are a lot of people that watch so much news, worrying about what is going on in the middle east or around the world in general. Watching all that will not change any of it. It will only drag you down. I also think that many of us, including myself, could be spending too much time on the internet. We may have gotten away from the TV but we may be filling that space online. It could be something we need to be careful of.
Linnca Kittelsen says
Its articles like this that made me take the step and finally stop. I quit watching all TV in the beginning of this month. I didn’t want to waste anymore of my precious time on this earth mindlessly watching TV.
Thank you for spreading the word about how damaging TV can be.
robert says
I’ve cut out all tv except to watch MLB. Even then I only watch one team the LA Angels, and with more than half the games on the west coast with late starting times, I get to watch even less games.
Carrie says
This is great advice, Joshua… Especially the one about eliminating specific shows.
Here’s another tip: Think about how much money you will save every month if you cancel cable. That’s how I convinced my husband to cancel it years ago. ;)
Beverly says
I have one rather small TV and only subscribe to cable because the package deal with internet is the cheapest way to go. I have the TV plugged into a surge protector strip which I keep turned off to save electricity. So if I want to watch TV, I first have to manually turn on the power strip. That extra effort usually keeps me from turning it on, usually for several days or even weeks at a time. Another incentive for me not to watch TV is when I see how much other people vegetate in front of it.
Lea says
I’m with you about watching less television. I don’t watch TV, sometimes I watch things on my laptop but it isn’t often. I didn’t make this decision consciously. About 7 or so years ago I realized that I just wasn’t watching TV and that 3 months had gone by and I hadn’t even turned it on. There were other things I wanted to do instead. Spending time with family, friends, our pets, going for walks, working on art projects. I wanted to DO things instead of sitting in front of a TV. We eventually gave both of our TV’s away. They were taking up space for nothing and the rooms looked much prettier, more open than they had with a big TV.
Tony W says
I got rid of my television long ago. I watch Hulu, Netflixs, YouTube and the like.
I find I like the control. I choose what and when to watch. I also find I can multitask on my laptop as I watch or listen.
When I do find myself somewhere where I am watching a television show, I find myself trying to go back a few seconds to see or hear something I just missed like I do on my laptop. LOL