| 'I'm
Sarah, and I'm a TV addict' . . . you too can escape
the captivity
By Sarah Hill
November 14, 2005 | Media
attack us from everywhere, while we patiently stand
in the checkout line in the grocery store to driving
down the street in our cars. It seems that we cannot
escape it. Yet the media that affects us the most is
the one sitting in our living room. Most people center
their furniture around this one black box, the television.
Television is a critical part of
lives. It gives us the news, history, education, and
a rest from our own lives. Although it is a good tool
in our lives it is also a tool that is very harmful.
Many of us fall prey to the media. We become glued to
our television watching reality shows, soap operas,
sit-coms and many more. Our lives are planned around
the schedule of the television and all of us have fallen
guilty to this at one time or another.
As a recovering television addict,
I am here to tell everyone it is possible to stop, but
a hard road.
For me it started when my roommates
and I had spent the last month bonding together over
television. We have what we endearingly call, "Malcolm
Time" in our apartment. It is at five o'clock every
weekday when the WB puts on "Malcolm in the Middle."
Together we sit on the couch eating dinner and relaxing
from a long day of school. Yet, once the hour of Malcolm
is over with we don't turn off the television. We fall
prey to the lazy syndrome and end up watching more television
because we can't get up and turn off. Our one-hour ends
up going to two or more.
On average in the year 2002 according
to the United States Department of Commerce, a person
watches 1,701 hours of television a year. The projection
for 2007 is 1,785 hours per person in a year, which
is 84 more hours than 2002. Although that number is
not shockingly that much more, it is still disturbing.
A thousand seven hundred and one hours were wasted in
front of the television.
According to USA Today, children
on average watch about two and half hours a day. We
could have spent our time more wisely by easily learning
a new language, how to play an instrument or several
other things that challenge our intellect.
Television can be educational at
times, but it lacks the creativity and hard work to
earn that information on our own. Our creativity is
lost when we spend hours in front of the television.
We can no longer entertain ourselves or create our own
ideas without borrowing from what we have watched. Also
we lose all that time we could have spent developing
our own skills and talents.
In order to further better ourselves
we must turn off the television. I understand how hard
it is so I started with a simple solution: cut out one
program. Watch one less show a day. And slowly work
our way from there. With that extra half hour to an
hour, plan something else to do in that time, like reading,
writing, going for a walk, exercise, do something enjoyable,
or learn about something that previously lacked the
time to do. Soon we will find that we will enjoy that
time we have set aside for ourselves and that the temptation
to watch that television show no longer exists.
Another good reason to turn off our
television is obesity. According to Lois M. Collins
in tje Deseret Morning News, statistics say that
one in every for children in Utah is at an unhealthy
weight. Sixty-five percent of U.S. adults are considered
overweight or obese. Remember that laziness is our biggest
enemy. Getting up from that couch will cause us to lose
more weight.
Make goals and stick to them and
we will find that we will be happier with ourselves.
It is a hard road to recovery and I'm still traveling
it, but in the end it will be satisfying to have made
it to the end. Do something for yourself -- turn off
the television.
NW
CC |
