3 Things the Media Hasn't Told You About Watching TV Too Much
I loved watching TV every day, I never missed anything that was on TV either it be a new series or the latest reality show. I knew which TV stations had the best shows.
Back then I never considered my constant everyday watching of television as an addiction. I always thought that it was okay to watch TV for almost 10 hours per day, but what it actually meant was that I had a TV addiction.
My time management was bad, I would lose track of time as I watched a television show. I would always procrastinate to just watch TV. My priority was the TV not to do something else like read or write something. I would lie on the couch, take the remote and just scroll through the channels hoping to find something entertaining.
The wake-up call came about one evening as I was at home cooking; I left the food to get heated up but forgot all about it when I looked at the TV. The food got burned and almost torched the house. I had to admit that there was a problem and had to take drastic measures.
Consider this, according to Entrepreneur, over a lifetime, the average person will spend seven (7) years and six (6) months watching television-truly horrifying.
That was me a couple of years ago, and I know how influential the TV can have on you both positive and negative. These are the negative effects that had a grip on me. So let’s check out these damaging consequences, one by one.
1. A menacing addiction arises
Addiction is not only limited to the drug addicts or alcoholics, it also occurs in people who spend too much time staring at the screen. You cannot spend a few hours from the TV because an addiction has developed.
You won’t notice that you are spending a great range of your time on that screen. It will be a slow and gradual increase of TV time leading to a greater addiction to the TV. The fact that you have a remote controller makes it’s so easy to just sit as you scroll through the channels endlessly.
According to National Centre of Biotechnology Information (NCBI), television (TV) addiction refers to out-of-control behaviour pertaining to the medium of television as opposed to a particular show on television.
That is, one may feel a subjective craving to view television a great deal to achieve a sense of satiation, become preoccupied with the idea of viewing television, not be able to predict how long one will be watching TV (loss of control), and suffer negative life consequences as the result.
You will lie to yourself that you’ll only watch this one show but that becomes two, three, four and five shows. But the time you realise it’s too late and you have spent a couple of hours scrolling through that screen. You did nothing productive and time was wasted.
2. Deadly Negativity arises
Your negative emotions might not be coming from that job but actually from your television. You are always clued to the TV and nothing misses you, you know the latest news and breaking news. This can be great meaning that you are well informed.
But the other big issue that comes up is that you start feeling anger, rage and a range of negative feelings. The majority of the news are negative therefore you are just feeding from this negativity and you aren’t happy. There are barely good news, there is a whole lot of news that will make you angry, sad and depressed.
All this bad news will make you fearful and see the world as the most dangerous place. You won’t travel due to your fears of travelling which are just fears and not reality. So stop or reduce this TV time.
According to National Centre of Biotechnology Information (NCBI), consequences of viewing too much TV include;
-Creating political or social biases (e.g., regarding presidential candidates, racial stereotyping)
-Shaping or increasing purchasing behaviour
-Increased aggression or fear of being victimised
-Attention and cognitive deficits
-Sleep difficulties
-Avoidance of relationship maintenance
-Lower life satisfaction
-Poorer body image among women.
3. Watching TV leads to Productivity and time management being affected
What would happen if you switched off your TV for a day? You won’t miss any worthwhile news that directly affects you.
Your excuse of not having enough time will be non-existent here because the TV is off. You will find time to do that project or read that book that you kept on procrastinating. You can never perform at your best if you only spend a few hours doing what you know will bring you closer to your goals.
By watching that TV show, you will get some instant gratification but success can’t occur if instant gratification won’t be tamed. For you to be productive you need a well-planned and laid out time system. Managing that time is what will make you a success.
So you do have enough time but you are wasting it away. You can actually do more in a whole day by just staying away from your screen.
One rather dramatic finding is that persons who watch six (6) hours of television per day have been found to live 4.8 fewer years than lighter or non-viewers and also children 8–16 years old who watched four (4) or more hours of TV per day were found to have greater body fat and a higher body mass index than those who watched less than two (2) hours per day according to National Centre of Biotechnology Information (NCBI).
Conclusion
A TV set is one of the best forms of entertainment; you can watch your favourite show all at the comfort of your home. But by sleeping on your couch scrolling through the different TV shows you become complacent and lazy.
It won’t happen automatically but by embracing this bad habit of looking at your TV screen for hours on end leads to that.
You will barely notice that the TV has become a big part of your life. An addiction arises, negativity slowly storms in, and productivity and time planning are affected. You will most likely dismiss all these consequences due to your lack of reducing TV time.
Am not saying the TV is this evil box that is there to lead you to destruction. Don’t destroy it just yet, there are other great benefits you can use it such as watching an historical show on Alexander the Great or just good entertainment. Watch the TV but don’t let it hypnotise you and affect you in any way.
Have you experienced some or all of these consequences because of spending too much time on your TV? Do you know of any other toxic effects of watching TV constantly that I haven’t mentioned?
Then do share and tell in the comments section below. I would love to hear from you. Also share this with your friends and family, sharing is caring.
-Michael Kamenya
