Monday, February 21, 2011

How TV Ruined Your Life

Ironically, there is a show on BBC Two called How TV Ruined Your Life. How relevant!

No, really, it's relevant -- we are finally getting rid of cable this week!

I don't have much against TV shows; I enjoy watching gratuitous violence, jerks, nudity, and just plain stupidity just as much as any other person. I even like educational shows like So You Think You Can Dance. I'm just kidding, I like watching Pawn Stars for my education. No, seriously, I'm saying I watch Mythbusters for Kari Byron, I mean explosions, err, education. Honestly I do really like watching Nova on PBS.

Really, I do watch Nova.

I digress. We live with "Grandpa" who has a bit of a TV addiction. Hey, if I was laid off and single, I'd probably had a bit of a TV addiction, too. I certainly did as a teenager. All day: TV. It was depressing, but it was easy to ignore the horrible sinking feeling as long as the shows and commercials did a good enough job of keeping my attention on them rather than my own thoughts.

Now that I'm a "grown up," I have experienced time without watching TV. Wow, the world is so different when you don't have a little life-sucker in every room of your house.  And I have kids. Have you ever looked at a kid's face while they watch TV? Staring, mouth gaping. They don't even know the difference between the shows and the commercials until they are at least 7.

Even though I'm being a little hard on TV, I think TV shows can be nice, helpful, and worth it to watch.  That's what the internet is for, now. Or DVDs. Or friends' houses.

I think the key to keeping what you watch helpful to you -- whether to relax for a bit, or to learn something, or for whatever other reasons people watch -- rather than detrimental is this:  MODERATION.  Everything in moderation, guys. The average American spends HALF of their leisure time in front of the tube. They would essentially have twice as much time to do stuff if they got rid of TV. I guess some people could call that moderation...

When you turn the TV on, do you turn it off after an hour? Or do you leave it on when you're done and find it sucking you back in?  How often do you intend to just watch something short, but before you know it, it's midnight and you've watched 6 different shows across 4 different channels?

I'm still being a bit harsh. I guess I've got a chip on my shoulder. And I'm not factoring in TiVo or anything.

But I think it's important to -- when you're going to watch something -- first of all, have the intent to watch it.  Second of all, when it's over, it's over. You're done; open the door and go outside.  Why not go for a run? That's what we were born to do, not sit in front of an idiot box.

Without further ado, here is an excerpt from How TV Ruined Your Life that was brought to my attention by The Moneyless Man, who I first heard of by randomly finding a site he started (I believe, don't quote me on this) JustForTheLoveOfIt.org. I think it's a 15 minutes well-spent. =)



Here's links to the books mentioned in the post:

30 comments:

  1. Interesting show. Thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  2. getting rid of cable is a great decision.. good luck :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Watched this show a few times and it's great. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes very interesting, a good read.
    TV is great though :P

    ReplyDelete
  5. O.O
    will limit my TV dosage from now on

    ReplyDelete
  6. All my TV comes from HBO pretty much

    ReplyDelete
  7. I should check that show out on BBC, thanks for pointing it out.

    ReplyDelete
  8. How ironic. I don't watch tv though, I don't have time for that. Too many commercials.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yeah I've haven't watched Cable in more than 6 months. Haven't missed it at all. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I used to have a serious issue with cable, I'd turn it on for something silly like American Idol and just let it go on and on and on. It was a problem because I'd forget other things like.. eating. So I made it a goal to stop watching TV and now I don't. I watch Hulu. XD

    ReplyDelete
  11. Metalpark_731922/27/2011 10:43:00 PM

    TV: The devils box xD

    ReplyDelete
  12. I only watch the movie network when I come home from breaks and it is ONLY if there is something good on.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Just what ever you do. Stop the cable completely. dont switch to basic. SHUDDER

    ReplyDelete
  14. Meandmythinkingcap2/27/2011 10:43:00 PM

    If all shows are taken off and if realityshow is replaced,then I am doing the same. No creativity, no need to write script or create characters or write anything instead make them fight and crowd is going to giggle at the catfights

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sports and news are easy to find online. =D

    ReplyDelete
  16. I LOVE Netflix. =D

    ReplyDelete
  17. Haven't watched TV for like 3 years now and not missing it one bit. Only sports and news a bit.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I recently sold my TV. Don't really need it anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Loved the video! I don't really watch much tv, I usually watch tv series on my computer though. But totally agree with that clip!

    Good stuff.

    Unrelated Randomness

    ReplyDelete
  20. I honestly hardly ever watch cable. Now, I watch a lot of movies on my TV. But if I want to see a show, I typically stream it online.

    http://robertfunf.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  21. Just bought a new tv and found out about netflix. There has only been a slight decrease in my active lifestyle.

    ReplyDelete
  22. i have to watch some tv otherwise my life is not complete so i have to agree with
    Daan789

    ReplyDelete
  23. so true, I prefer Netflix over anything.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Tv is extremelly dangerous, especially for the younger ones. I'm happy that I don't watch any :D

    ReplyDelete
  25. TV cant ruin your life! its too awesome

    ReplyDelete
  26. i love the educational channels i hate mtv cant stand the jersey shore i dont really watch tv tho i have a 62 in screen anyways fuck cable just make sure you keep the internet =]

    ReplyDelete
  27. I am so glad that I am not that much into TV. I prefer watching selected movies without commercial breaks. My sister watches TV and I still believe that passive consumption like this just makes you really dumb

    ReplyDelete
  28. Last year there was a whole host of shows I couldn't do without missing. I still list all these shows as my favourite shows but the need to watch them is smaller for some reason =/

    A new series of one of these said shows is on but I just can't get round to watching it. Iv even commited myself to downloading one to catch up in time for the new series but its just lay there on my hard drive unopened.

    I think its something to do with my change of situation, I used to watch these shows with my mum and now im not with her they just arnt as important to me to watch.

    Tis sad really

    ReplyDelete