Over my lifetime, I’ve watch many many hours of TV shows, cartoons and bad movies…  Today, I’ve decided to write about why TV is a bad form of entertainment, and I’m going to suggest alertnative ideas to do instead.

Trash the TV

Why TV is wasting your life and brainwashing you:

• A television show, movie or news program is still 1 (or a few) writers viewpoint and perspective on matters.  So as you watch a TV show of the person who created the show, realize that it’s not reality, just an opinion.
• Television News (especially political), only present the data that make their case sounds like it’s the only answer.  Again, the media is just an opinion of 1 or a few writers.  They are brainwashing you with bogus statistics, and false righteousness.  All to often, news shows paints a picture of a poor arrested person that really was guilty, but they spin it like the criminal was the victim…  This is what I call media sensationalism.  Don’t believe it, especially if you don’t know that all the fact.  If you do follow blindly, then you are pretty much just a puppet, please don’t be this.
• I use to come home and turn on the tv, watching it for hours (or play video games, which isn’t any better, especially the violent ones).  Now I have nothing to show for it, except fading memories of shows that nobody wants to remember anyway.  I’m definitely not a better person for it.
• Watching TV robs you of time that you can spend on creating a hobby, doing charity work, making extra money with side work, hanging with friends, etc…  The idea here is that TV is an inferior form of entertainment.  The problem it that it’s too easy to just turn the ole B00b tube on.
• When you are old and no long able to do young things, you don’t want to look back fondly of the the TV shows you can’t remember… Do you?  You need to get out there and do stuff, taking pictures along the way!  Make real memories!

Okay, those are my rant points… so now,

My advice and tips for limiting TV watching:

• Okay, everybody like a good movie, keyword being a “good” movie!  I don’t want to waste the money going to all the movies that come out in the theater!  So I wait a week, then go to www.imdb.com and enter the movie title.  The beauty of imdb is that movie viewers like you and I go there and rank movies when the come out.  Anything less that a 6 rating, I generally pass on.  While watching any movie isn’t a great way to optimize you “life” time, watching a crappy movie really bites.  Use www.imdb.com!!!  They also have a top 250 movies list based off of ratings by people like us!!!
• With TV you’re limiting yourself.  It’s better do multitask by listening to an audiobooks while you do some type of chore or work.  That way, you force your mind to create the characters as you listen to the audibooks, and at the same time get something else accomplished.  My father-in-law used this method while he worked his primary job, and today, he’s a very smart, well versed man.
• Call me odd, but I can’t understand why anyone would forgo living their life to watch other people live there lives. (the dreaded reality tv…)  Please stop this, I know it’s easy to get hooked (yes, I watch a little every now and then while flipping channels), but please go out and play basketball, volleyball, catch, whatever… with friends, brothers, sisters, mom or dad. 
• If you must watch the b00b tube, limit (budget) your allotted TV watching time per week (this is what I do, I’m still addicted to TV…)
• Other things you can do instead of watching tv include,
  • Go for a walk, hike, job around the park, neighoorhood, mall, gym, etc. 
  • Clean something or do some other chores
  • Fix something (use google if you don’t know how to fix it)
  • Coach you child’s team (if you don’t know how become an assistent coach first, or get a book or video on how to do it)
  • Try inventing something in your garage or basement.
  • Customize your basement into something cool.
  • Form a club that meets weekly (maybe a book, investment or a “I hate TV” club)
  • Dabble in music, perhaps learn to play the guitar or piano, or whatever…

The possibilities are endless, we are very fortunate to have the leisure time to be able to do some incredible cool things if we stop watching TV so much. 

Create an “Activity Journal” of what you do during the day and write the activities down right before you go to bed.  Keep it simple, keep the journal in one spot and jot down what you did.  Start out slow and expand your activities.  Maybe even grade yourself on how well you believe you maximized your day.

We can all do this, and in the process, live a much better healthier life.

-D