I spent most of my free time glued to the TV screen until I stopped watching TV altogether around 2013. At this point, I rarely ever think about it or miss it. On the rare occasions that I watch TV, it seems so strange to me and makes me glad that I gave it up. A lot of what happens on TV is incredibly forced and unrealistic, even when it’s supposed to showcase reality. Since I’ve been away from it for so long now, I think I can better communicate and interact with other people; my expectations are based on the way people actually behave in real life instead of how actors perform on the air.
In addition to refraining from watching TV, I also don’t watch the news. However, I never consistently watched the news even when I was a TV addict, so it’s almost always felt awkward and manipulative to me when I see a clip from a news show. Because I’m not getting sound bites, overly-simplified arguments, one-sided perspectives, or anything else that’s common in the news, I feel like I can better understand how the world really is and see other people in a positive light.
This has got me thinking about how much things would change if more people also did this. If you’d like to find out how your life would change, then you can try this experiment: avoid watching TV or the news for a week. That should give you enough time to get used to life without those things that you’ll notice how their absence affects you. If you don’t think you can go a week without turning on the TV, here are some things that might help. First, make a list of things you enjoy and do one thing on that list whenever you get the urge to watch TV or check the news. If you still have the urge to tune in, continue doing things on that list until the urge is gone. Second, whenever you succeed in avoiding TV, give yourself a small reward. These two tactics will make you more likely to stick to your goal over the course of the week since they will keep you focused on positive actions to pursue instead of negative actions to avoid and give you a feeling of happiness instead of pain each time you succeed.
Consider keeping track of how you feel during that week and noting any changes you observe in your mood, your use of time, your relationships, and anything else. Once that week is up, turn the TV back on if you like and see how you respond. Don’t try to make yourself respond in any certain way; just relax and respond however feels naturally to you. However you react, I think you’ll find this experiment interesting and, perhaps, insightful, especially if it causes you to permanently change some of your habits. I’d like to hear about your experience if you try this experiment. If enough people did this, I think it could do a lot to increase civility, unity, and understanding while simultaneously decreasing hostility, division, and disinterest. And I hope to see that happen.