5 reasons why you should ditch your tv

I have a love-hate relationship with the TV, in fact, during my marriage, it was often the cause of a lot of angst for me. My ex-husband had a habit of switching the TV on first thing in the morning, which would always irritate me. So, I’d go out of my way to get out of the house quickly for some peace. Then I’d return in the evening after a day full of meetings to find the TV still on. The evening routine revolved around what was on the TV, with me hoping it was football so I could go and do my own thing. So, no surprise that I gave him the TV when we split up.

Then when I moved into my own place I decided I did not want a TV and that was how I lived for the first five years of my new singleton life. When my mother came to stay for a while, I felt I had to buy a TV to keep her happy.

So that’s how the TV found its way back into my life. I know I should have got rid of it back then, but old habits die hard as they say!

Recently I’ve noticed myself being less upbeat and energetic. I’ve also gained weight. And even worse, my meditation routine is well, less of a routine! I tried to work out what was going on for me, then it hit me.

I had to get rid of the TV and these are five main reasons to ditch the TV.

1 - TV watching can cause health problems:

You may think I’m over exaggerating but Let me explain. There is statistical evidence linking our obsessive TV watching with the decline in our mental and physical wellbeing. Contrary to what we may think but the increasing rates of obesity are not only down to overeating or eating the wrong things.

Although TV programs were first broadcast in the 1930s, it wasn’t until the 1950s that TV broadcasting really took off. Fast forward to the 1980s onwards and the TV has become a daily staple, in fact it is very much a huge part of our daily lives.

Interestingly The British Medical Journal states

“The 1980s and 1990s witnessed alarming increases in obesity across the globe. In Britain between 1980 and 1991, the prevalence of obesity doubled and is continuing to increase”

 Is it a coincidence? I don’t believe it is. But how could watching TV contribute to obesity? Well apart from the obvious which is that we are less active, the following point is often overlooked.

2 - Eating unconsciously versus eating mindfully.

This is close to home for me because when I didn’t own a TV, I ate without any other distraction and I was totally present with my meal. And incidentally at my peak in health. Does that sound all new age? Well, it shouldn’t because when we are not paying attention then we have no clue of what we are putting in our mouth or when we are full up.

Another habit I noticed when I was eating whilst watching TV was that I’d prolong my dinner to match the program I was watching, so intentionally (but not consciously) eating more!! However, when I eat mindfully, I seem to want to eat less because I notice when I am full up. Got to be worth a try right?

Time is what we want most, but what we use worst

William Penn

3- TV consumes a huge chunk of our time.

Yes this is an oversimplification but I think for the point I’m trying to make, this is probably good enough. Let’s consider the following:

 There are 8,760 hours in a year, of which we sleep around 2,920 if you sleep 8 hours a night.

That leaves 5,840 hours a year to live our life.

The average daily time spent watching TV is 3 hours, that’s 21 hours a week, 84 hours a month, and just over 1,000 a year.

Now consider if we live until we are 80 years old, then we would have used up around 80,000 hours of our life watching TV, that’s around 12% of our entire life.

Phew, that was too much maths for one day but I hope you get the message.

PS: That does not include all the time lost flicking through our mobile phones!! I don’t even want to imagine the statistics around this one.

If time is our most valuable resource, can we really afford to squander so much of it?

4 -The Distracted Mind

In his book “Stolen Focus” Johann Hari Focus” goes into detail about the impact of technology on our ability to focus our attention. When I read the following sentence, it suddenly made sense why I was struggling to finish reading a book recently:

“I want to read a book, but the light of my attention won’t fade from my phone” - Johann Hari

Yes indeed that seductive pull towards the bright light of the phone, distracts us from life itself. Maybe if we switched it all off for a while we’d be more involved in our lives and less consumed with distraction.

5 - The negative impact of TV

Even if we don’t consciously recognise it, most of what we consume on TV has an unhealthy impact on our state of mind. For example, advertisements are designed to make us feel a sense of lacking to entice us to buy their products so we feel better. The news is a constant bombardment of negativity that creates a view of the world as unsafe and unfriendly.

It’s no accident, there is a deliberate reason for such negativity in the media because when we perceive the world as a threat, we are more likely to buy what’s on offer.

It is innately human to want to avoid pain and suffering, so they cause the suffering to keep us chasing after the said pain relief. 

So what would happen if you switch it all off? Ah, I hear you “But I need to know what is going on in the world because I care!!” However, I argue that the news is twisting your view of the world and in fact, it may even deter you from making a difference.

The reality that is seldom presented to us is that most people are kind and compassionate. And the world is amazing, life is amazing. But that view doesn’t sell, does it?

Before I go I’d like to leave you with this question:

What could you do with the extra 12% of your life, if you gave up the TV?

PS: Consider this: 12% is based on the average of 3 hours a day, if you add phone scrolling or weekend TV binging, it might even be as high as 30% of your life!!