Remember the movie Avalon? Where the family gets into television? Apparently, there is something about the moving-images-across-a-screen phenomenon that is hypnotizing (the fact that they have such moving-image-screens (sometimes in-house ads, sometimes television) broadcasting in banks and airports and the J.F.K. customs hall suggests that television is the true opiate of the masses).
My favorite shocking statistic is that watching T.V. burns fewer calories than sleeping. Apparently, this delicious piece of trivia was a Snapple tidbit in 2006. But I've been quoting it from studies sometime around 2000 or maybe 2002 (though I now see some discrepancy in that assessment).
(But what if you exercise while watching T.V.? Is that such a bad choice?)
Still, some of the options to watch on T.V. are worse than other options. I personally can't abide reality shows. The gross ones are worse. And the demeaning ones even worse.
But for some of the better options - I would consider "staying in" for them (except that there's no need anymore, what with all the devices that record shows and save them for later....or the TV-on-DVD option, that helps me out, since I have no connection to any television networks or cable, but simply the "box" and a DVD player.
Thus, I've never quite accepted my father's claim that watching television turns one's brain to mush (though I'm fairly certain it's not as intellectual an experience as reading all of the books in the Library of Congress).
I sure did think it was a mind-musher in years past.
ReplyDeleteAnd I still think too much of it is not good since it consumes too much time or can put a person in a passive mode for too long.
BUT I really like to watch for about an hour (plus news) - hopefully, in moderation. I usually don't give myself permission to watch until 10:00. If there's a program I like that goes on earlier, I'd rather watch on tape at a more convenient time.
There just comes a time at night when it feels like it's time to stop - stop working, stop pushing, stop thinking a lot - and take in a story line while or in order to revive the gray matter.
Did you ever expect to hear that from me?
There was a point when we were kids that my mother put her foot down and moved the TV to the basement. As you can imagine, we just started spending more time down there. At least my brother did. We once found him down there surrounded by a mound of torn Archie comic books. He got bored while watching and used them for batting practice in lieu of a baseball. True story!
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