If you have ever gone on facebook, you’ll notice all your dumb friends posting stupid shit about different television shows they watch. Don’t be like them, rise above that noise and be a better person.
My dad watches television all the time, and whenever I’m home visiting I’ll sit down and watch when I’m in the room with him. Perhaps it’s from not watching for a while, or maybe everyone has gotten really stupid in the past couple years, but the shows on network television are absolutely horrible. I cringe when I see an advertisement for a new show coming out. It’s either rehashed cop show or silly comedy where the dad is a bumbling idiot. Garbage all of it.
Remember when Charlie Sheen came out and was talking shit on the producer of his show 2 and a half men? It later was shown that Sheen loves drugs and banging hookers. What goes unmentioned during this whole event was that this was actually an incredible moment in time for freedom. Sheen was basically a whore for the duration of the show because he knew that he was on one of the worst most unfunny shows of all time, but because of it’s success and him getting major money, he went against his true nature and took a pay day. This is true for a large portion of his body of work obviously excluding Wall Street and Major League. So he got fed up with the bullshit and freed himself. When the media turned on him and accused him of banging porn stars and doing coke he owned the shit out of it. Embrace. An incredible facet of this story is that people actually like the show 2 and a half men. That show is absolute garbage and isn’t funny.
Let’s explore in depth why you should stop watching tv.
SMASH!
You will save a ton of time not watching tv.
Time is your most precious commodity. Real champions know this to be true. How much do you want to bet that the people spending hours of time watching television are unsatisfied and aren’t doing the real work they should be in their life? People are always complaining they don’t have enough time to do side projects or their true passions in life. I call bullshit. I have read that the average American spends 5 hours a day watching television. I’m not sure if that is true or not, but it doesn’t matter. Even if it’s only 1 hour a day, that is 1 hour you could be using to build a better future. It’s 1 hour you will never get back. And for what? Just to watch the latest episode of True Blood? I’d be able to stomach people watching as much tv as they do a little better if I knew that they have done their life’s work, but you know damn well they haven’t. By the way, True Blood is one of the worst fucking shows I have ever seen. The incredible thing is of course that everyone loves it! Absolutely amazing.
You aren’t personally invested in a series. For some reason, people believe that if they start watching a series, they then have to continue on and watch the whole thing. Think about how large a chunk of time that is! The Wire was 5 seasons long, each episode was about an hour in length. At about 10 episodes a season, we’re talking 50 hours of your life gone. The reason I mention The Wire is because it’s actually a pretty good show in my opinion. However, I would still rather have 50 hours of my life in which I’m able to do massive amount of work which is much more fulfilling. Another thing you have to realize is that there will always be another “best show” or the next “show you have to see”. It will never end unless you put a stop to it. Pump the brakes son.
Watching television is actually a very powerful drug and will mess up your brain
Watching television puts your brain in a state of stress or “fight or flight” mode. Constantly being in this mode for hours at a day does a number of things to your brain. It shuts down the reasoning part of your brain so that you are less likely to make logical decisions. Television programmers know this well, which is why news broadcasters amp this up by putting the scariest stories possible on their shows. Then they sell you ads for drugs you don’t need for fake diseases they made up. Oh, are you upset at this revelation because you take a litany of drugs in the morning? The answer isn’t in pills to fight the symptoms, but rather in the cause itself. Get up and start doing squats and you’ll start fighting the cause, but I digress. Turns out this stressed out brain leads to lower attention spans and poorly developed brains in children.
Watching television has also been shown to release endorphins. Endorphins are pleasure chemicals released in the brain as a reward. Endorphins are also chemically similar to Opiates. When endorphins are released it creates pathways in your brain and the more times they are released after an activity the stronger the pathways become making it harder to quit said activities. What I’m saying is that you can actually become addicted to watching television. Let’s look at another activity that releases endorphins that you could be doing instead of watching television, exercising. I’m betting that if you are addicted to watching tv, you aren’t an avid exerciser. I’m also betting you would love to get in great shape. Easy fix, just start substituting exercise for television and you’ll get that same endorphin rush, but this time from a positive activity.
There isn’t anything original on television anymore
Most television is rehashed garbage. I touched on this a bit earlier, but why would I need to watch hours of another cop show if I’ve already seen The Wire? Why watch Big Brother when I’ve already seen The Real World? Not only have I seen this formula before, but I have seen the superior version, and thus don’t need to waste time watching the shittier version. Network television tries to pull this bullshit the most because they are taking the least chances. Their logic goes like this: Why take a chance on something new and have it fail when we can put on more bachelorette which has a proven audience and not have to hire writers? Don’t fall for their bullshit. Don’t be someone who has to watch every new show just to see if it’s good or not. It won’t be.
Distraction versus reward
I would venture to say that by the time most people get to watching television for the day, they haven’t been making any inroads on their life’s work. If you come home after your 9-5, plop down on the couch, and start watching the television, I am talking directly to you. If you have any hopes and dreams of ditching the 9-5, watching television is just a distraction from doing your real work. So when you come home your attitude should be to immediately start work again and get going on your real passion. These days, most television is garbage, but I actually watch a couple shows here and there. The only shows I currently watch are Game of Thrones and Shark Tank. Now, you may be saying that I’m a bit hypocritical in admitting that. On one level I agree, but you should know that I don’t watch that stuff unless I’m finished my real work. Television is actually a pretty weak reward, but if you really want to do it, make sure you get the work done first. You will thank yourself later.
Save yourself a lot of money
I have cable television in my house. The reason is because my roommate and I enjoy watching Game of Thrones. Think about how insane that is. I happened to get a solid special price on the whole entertainment package, but the fact that we are basically buying cable television for one show is absolutely nuts. The fact is that cable television is expensive and totally unnecessary. In this day and age there is actually no excuse for you to keep cable because you can download every show you would ever want for free on the internet. I’m not sure why you would want to, because you may find out that when you get rid of cable you don’t feel like making the effort to download the shows, and thus get rid of your silly addiction in the process. There are other alternatives to cable now like hulu, amazon, or netflix if you really must have something to watch which are vastly less expensive than cable. I don’t suggest going that route though because they suffer from the same pitfalls as cable tv.
Another way you will most likely save yourself money is by not being subject to advertisements. Companies don’t pay a boat load of money to advertise on television for nothing. They do it because they know that the average television viewer is in a zombified suggestive state. It’s in this state that they throw all sorts of subliminal and not so subliminal messages at you in order to get you to buy their garbage. Free your mind from advertisements, turn off the television.
Active vs. Passive
If you give up watching television, you will be making a choice to go from being a passive participant in life to being active. No longer will you be sitting back letting the world pass you by, but rather going out in the world and creating your own destiny. No longer will you be letting your inner voice die another day, but will gain true satisfaction in doing your life’s real work. It’s the only way to go.
Taking Action
Try to take a 2 days off from watching tv. Depending on how addicted you are will determine how hard this will be. After the 2 days assess where you are and keep going to a week. After a week you really shouldn’t miss it anymore. Don’t be tempted during this time by looking at a blank screen, try to be as active as possible during this time and you will be free.
-Cancel your cable to save money
-Unplug your tv
-Exercise (heavy squats is my preference)
-Go on a walk
-Go on a vision quest
-Meditate
-GTDO
In college I was so poor I couldn’t afford TV. I didn’t miss it, the absence actually made my life better. Twenty years later I can afford it but I still don’t watch it, really I can’t watch it. All I see is propaganda when I turn it on. The news is reflective of an interest group, the commercials are mostly things that no one needs, and the shows are clearly a form of manipulation.
I used to watch a single episode of a show so I’d be socially aware but I can’t do it anymore. There’s no point in being politely informed. It just isn’t worth it.
Over the years I’ve noticed that I play a lot more sports, have had a far better sex life, had way more adventure than my tv watching peers. They’re all fat, lazy, and frankly stupid. The chasm has grown so large between the experiences, knowledge, and physical health has grown so large that TV types hate me as if I were doing something wrong to them. My point is: when you eliminate tv, you will lose friends for all kinds of reasons. Just yesterday I realized that an old friend and I probably aren’t going to make it much longer. His lifestyle of pills, tv, and easy chair is killing him and it’s really boring to be around. His insecurities from sitting around.
I’ve read about five pages of your site. We appear to have some similar viewpoints. Keep up the good work.
-J
Thanks JB! Trying to improve has the effect of seeing other people who don’t share the same mindset. It’s tough to watch.