Avoid Television
Impacts: Health, Mind, Community, Money, Time
“… Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions – everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses” – Roman poet Juvenal
Considering televisions business model is the perfect place to start when trying to understand the true value of television. The core purpose of television is to sell advertising. Television is simply a tool that has grown into a vehicle for putting ads in front of you. To achieve their goal television producers work hard to make the most entertaining and captivating shows possible. The focus is not on quality or message but ratings and grabbing viewers.
All shows fall into this including the news. Television has also grown into the most popular and wide spread method of keeping us connected to the outside world. But people don’t just want the facts they want to know what other people think so news broadcasts have become filled with opinion mixed with reporting the facts.
Another reality of television is that it requires little physical movement or interaction with the people around us. Many of us spend hours in front of the tube eating and multi-tasking but inevitably sitting still ignoring the people around us.
Turning off the television will free you in many ways. You’ll find yourself interacting with family more, catching up on back burner projects around the house, spending more time outside, and so on. You’ll also feel better because most of what entertains us on television is designed to pull on our emotions. It makes perfect sense actually, no one would watch television if it wasn’t entertaining and elicited an emotional response.
If you miss the white noise television provides try turning on some music. You’ll probably even find your mood begin to improve. If you miss the news browse news websites, pick up a newspaper, talk with your friends, or listen to the radio. All these news sources have their own pros and cons but deliver the news quicker and often with less bias. It’s also easier to tune out the advertising.
Take Action
- Begin by cutting out television news. Get your news from other sources.
- Try to watch only your favorite shows. This will help avoid wasting time on shows you watch because there’s nothing else on TV.
- Fill the time you save with things you like to do.
- Avoid talk radio which tends to be biased and can divert you from focusing on the positive.
I’d also suggest avoiding talk radio, and any experience which is designed to emotionally manipulate you without your permission.
Thanks Evelyn. Excellent suggestion.
Hey Michael, hope you don’t mind me just poking around. I got curious when I saw the link in my gmail. I agree that a good way of understanding television is to look at the business model. I am more of an Internet person myself…but am concerned that fundamentally the same business model is at work. There is a very positive feedback mechanism when people write what attracts the type of person who spends money because ultimately it is this type of content which drives ad revenue.
Hi Matthew… Welcome! Great comment and for some reason I’m not surprised you noticed this very subtle paradox and irony.
I think I’d say that with everything we take in… television, books, news, blogs, we need to take it with a grain of salt, because behind virtually everything their is some kind of driver and quite often a financial one.
For example people write for a lot of different reasons. I’m writing because I think I have something to offer, but I’m also writing to literally give myself more of the freedom I’m writing about. This in turn requires that I sell printed books or monetize the content online, or both.
Is it similar to the business model of television? Sure. But is the writing effected, influenced, and shaped by the business model? Not to the extreme degree that television programming is forced to survive.
Can a writer take it to the extreme of television? Absolutely… in fact in my humble opinion Timothy Ferriss’s book, The 4-Hour Work Week, is the perfect example of a book written and sold specifically to sell books and make him loads of money. Is the book still worth reading? I think so, as long as you take along a salt lick.
Is my little project here like Tim’s book and TV? I’ll leave that to each of you to decide. I personally think it’s a win-win and clever way to say what I want, offer what I think is helpful advice, and find a way to generate a small revenue stream all at the same time.
But I still think avoiding television is a good idea, unless Star Trek is on and you mute the commercials… just kidding
I stopped watching television a decade ago. It did soothe my troubled soul. Early this year I embarked on a personal transformation of physical and spiritual dimensions.
I had always been keen on de-toxing the body and now I found a way to de-tox myself of negative spiritual or mental energies.
Like the physical de-tox, there are good days and bad days as the evil toxins are leaving the body. A lot gets stirred up and one has to hang in there for the ride knowing that they are going to be bright and clean when the toxins are out.
I have already experimented with several different methods of processes for a spiritual de-tox. At this stage I am relying on R3X processes and a good facilitator. I also used Mace Method and PEAT and EFT and Idenics — all good.
I see a lot of parallels between my spiritual de-tox and my physical de-tox and weightlifting programs. It’s hard work with measurable gains.
When one can succeed in breaking through spiritual and physical barriers the concept of exponential gain (versus linear gain) comes into view.
In fact, because my mind is clearer I can see myself making a sea change, thus my attraction to your DIY Freedom concept. Thank you for setting the pace.