This week, I went the entire week watching only a single hour of television each night. The only caveat was Saturday night, when I watched "Rio" (96 min.) with my grandson. Now, after last week's miserable showing, I was really glad that I tried again. I found that it helped to clearly announce my intention to watch only a single program. It sounds crazy, but by saying it out loud I made it more real, at least for myself. I found that mid-week was the hardest time for me. I was tired, and I had a lot of work I wanted to avoid. My strategy of not being able to watch television until I had completed some school work really helped with this.
Overall, while I'm glad that I was able to limit my viewing to a little over 7 hours, I still think that's too much. This week, I'm going to continue unplugging myself from the television and try to limit my television viewing to only 4 hours. Since, for me, television viewing is about escape, I want to escape into a novel that I've started, and have been struggling to finish.
I agree with this post,
ReplyDeleteTV is very distracting and can be somewhat calming. I look at TV as comfort. It reminds me that somewhere else someone is happy or just having a great imagination of being happy. When my life is just not working out, I absolutely love watching a T.V. I also look at T.V. as a way to forget things, such as homework. It’s seem as if nothing wrong, when your watching T.V. but after words, you just feel so damn guilt for watching the Simpson, while you should be working on the 12 page paper. I’m totally up for unplugging my television.
Paige
I am beginning to do the same thing. Although I do use my t.v to listen to music, i need to be more diligent in using my down-time more effectively. I think i will commit to going 3 days a week without watching t.v.
ReplyDeleteI think it's odd that people find TV comforting. I agree that it could help take you away from your problems for a while. But, when I come home from school and my mom has the TV on- I HATE IT. It's just NOISE and it makes me feel even more stressed out, frustrated, and annoyed. Especially if I'm trying to work or just relax and there's nowhere I can go that's quiet because the TV's on. Sometimes I resort to locking myself in my bathroom and crying my eyes out. It's even worse when I have a headache or I'm trying to sleep. TV...hurts. I don't like it. I only watch something if it's a really good story, 'cause it makes me feel grumpy after a while. I think the noise and images are over-stimulating for me and it tires me out instead of relaxes me. So, I was wondering- Does anybody else feel like TV affects them in similar ways? How about you, Scott?
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on cutting back on TV time! While I know I do not watch as much TV as some of my peers, I know that I do watch quite a bit. Sometimes more than I would like to.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the problem with watching TV stems from us being convinced that we NEED to watch television. Many people get their news and entertainment from TV.
I think that a lot of those people don't realize that they can get the same information or the same entertainment from a radio program, or a good book.
-Janne
I agree with Bergman in that watching TV usually ends up being frustrated or distracted. For me TV has never been a very big part of my life. I live somewhere that the only channel I get is PBS and when they switched to using a converter my family just never changed to it. Often times I find myself feeling left out of everyday teenage conversations because I don't know the TV show they are talking about. Then I think back to when I last got the chance to watch TV which is usually when I stay at a friends house or something. At the end of the show I had gotten up, look at the time, and realize that I just wasted at least an hour watching something that just made me more behind on what was actually going to effect part of my reality, such as homework. I look at television as entertainment when I am watching it but as a distraction any other time. It is always frustrating to hear how so many other people spend so much time just sitting in front of a screen looking at what other people are doing to avoid focusing on what they could be doing. What a waste of time. Monitor it yes, and never let it get a hold of you life. Make yourself be in control.
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