Do You Need To Rethink Your Television Viewing?

I previously wrote a post asking the question: Could you give up television? After this post, I intentionally scaled back on the time I spent in front of the television.

Unfortunately, with my current bout of illness, I reverted to my bad habit of watching too much television. Or at least having it on in the background while I try to do other things.

Lately though, I have been questioning more than just the number of hours I spend watching television. I’ve been having a closer look at what sort of programs I watch on television.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to rethink your television viewing.

Is your life filled with psychopaths and serial killers?

This question, in particular, is where the idea started for this post. As I mentioned earlier, I have been a bit under the weather, so I have been watching more television than normal.

Out of the blue one day, I started to question how many programs I had watched that week that involved a psychopath, serial killer, child molester, or someone who had suffered a violent death. Though I didn’t come up with an exact figure, I realized it wouldn’t have been a pretty number. It would have been a high number.

While I am not a psychologist, I would imagine watching this sort of television all the time could be harmful over the long run. At the very least, I was finding it depressing. I was starting to have a few strange dreams (not to mention checking all of the doors were locked several times before I went to bed).

If you are watching too many shows where a dead body is lying on a slab, you might want to tweak your television viewing.

Let’s face it, if you want to see crime and violence, all you have to do is turn on the nightly news. Scary but true.

Are you watching people following their dreams yet doing nothing about your own?

It can be all too easy to sit back on our arse and watch people chase after their dreams.  Good on them, we think.

We applaud them, we admire them.

Yet we still passively sit on our butt. We do nothing about our own hopes and dreams.

Use the people that inspire you on television to get up and pursue your own goals.

Related post – How to Stop Watching from the Sidelines (Or Why I am Giving up The Voice)

Do you think reality TV is actually real?

Don’t even get me started on this one. I have never been a fan of reality television. I actually have a reality TV ban going on in my house. 🙂

In the beginning, I could appreciate some of the singing or dancing shows, because skill and talent were required. Some of the contestants were extremely talented, and it was fabulous to watch their growth and success.

But now that market is completely saturated, and those shows have lost their appeal for me.

Unfortunately, talent doesn’t rank high in many reality shows.

Most of them are what I define as elaborate rat experiments. Put a whole bunch of people in an extreme situation and watch them turn on each other.

So many of the reality television shows are crap. And yes, sometimes we all like to watch crap. I am as guilty of this as the next person. It can be an enjoyable form of escapism.

Just don’t delude yourself into believing reality TV is real.

Related post – Does Reality Television Promote Bullying

Do you think the people on dating / love shows are looking for love?

I hate to burst your happiness love bubble, but most of these people are not looking for love.

They are seeking fame. 

Not to mention that the show itself isn’t trying to match people who will stay madly in love for decades to come; they are matching people to create drama. It’s all about creating drama and tension.

Reality TV stars (and I use that term very loosely) are seeking fame. You can now create a career out of going from one reality TV show to another, then another, then another. This apparently makes you a TV star.

A lot of the people on finding love shows are seeking TV careers, not the love of their life.

Do you get sucked in by the ads?

I have watched a few morning shows lately. You know the type – the ones that come complete with their own sponsors and in-show advertising.

The same shows that try to sell you an exercise machine that fits neatly under the bed (very helpful for collecting dust later).  These are also the ones that show the same ads, over and over again until you are super convinced you really do need that ab thingamy jig that yeeha – you can use while you watch television.

Can you relate to any of the above? Are there certain types of shows you could do without or watch less of?

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Read Next – How to Stop Wasting Your Precious Time