Adam Pedley

Television is something that is in almost everyones home and the amount of time its switched on is getting longer and longer. At my personal worst when I was a teenager the TV would be on as soon as I got home from school until I went to bed and first thing in the morning for a few hours until I went to school. That makes around 8 hours a day in total time the TV is on.

As an adult TV would come on after my children are in bed and not at all in the morning. As my children are still very young I haven’t let them watch TV at all. Yes they will learn about it sometime soon, but it’s much better seeing them in the backyard playing.

While watching TV I was equivalent of a zombie. A blank stare into a small black box or in people’s cases today, a large flat panel on the wall. Using almost no brain capacity and wasting my life away. If I was to look back 50 years from now, what do you think approximately 73,000 hours of tv would have brought me? Nothing much.

So why did I decide to stop watching TV. Big brother 06 was the catalyst for me. I couldn’t take it anymore. Reality TV was doing nothing more than irritating me. So I unplugged the tv aerial (I recently turned it into a phone outlet).

What happened over the next few months. Well I watched DVD’s. Scrubs over and over again (I think I could quote almost each episode). And I dowloaded Stargate and Smallville. On the upside I wasn’t watching any advertisements, which is quite a good thing considering I recently learned that subliminal advertising is actually legal in quite a few countries as long as it is a certain number of frames. These frame rates however still classify it as subliminal and considering the zombie state most people are in, even if it did flash up for a second and was clearly visibile most people would not notice it.

To start curbing my tv watching I would try to put on the tv as late as possible. Each night getting later and later. I also stopped having the tv on if I was doing something else. I know most people like the background noise, but after a few days you easily adjust. Then I was still on my laptop while the tv was on at night. This habit stopped when the tv finally blew up and the only way we can watch tv now is on my laptop. I have decided not to go and purchase another tv.

So now its almost down to just watching a movie on dvd every now and again. Some nights the tv/laptop hasn’t even been turned on. I find I get a lot more work done on the laptop, I play Uno or a board game with my wife and even spend a bit more time cleaning the house. I know the last one isn’t very appealing but I have reclaimed more time to spend with my wife, family and house.

To me the hours I will have spent doing something more worthwhile will be a great thing to look back on in 50 years time, and will give me many more experiences and options. Even if you cut out 1 hour of tv a day, in 50 years time you will save 18,262 hours of your life to something more meaningful.