Comments on: How To Control How Much TV You Watch

By: Amy Jewell / Cirklagirl

Amy Jewell / Cirklagirl — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:41:47 +0000

We don’t have a tv in our house. We do, but it is up in the closet. We watch tv on the computer – when we want, what we want and no commercials. It is just inconvenient enough that we actually plan it out and there is no “just watching something” and no “there’s nothing on..” to worry about. I would say that we probably watch about 5 hours a week on that system, which seems like a lot but we are really into CSI!

By: Lisis

Lisis — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:47:14 +0000

Awesome… I’ll be looking for that guest post sometime after you get settled in your new home. In the meantime, I’ve tagged you (on my blog):

http://www.questforbalance.com/2009/04/07/seven-vices-virtues

By: Julian

Julian — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 09:29:57 +0000

@Lisis I could write a book about what I learned on that trip so yeah why not, thanks for the offer.

By: Lisis

Lisis — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:31:53 +0000

You’ve got that right… I’m on the perpetual quest for balance in my bank account!

Hey, Julian! How about a guest post about your Kilimanjaro trip for my Spirit of Adventure Mondays? Doesn’t have to be long, and I’m sure you’ve got an awesome photo to share! I’ll I need is what you did and what you learned. What say you? =-)

By: Julian

Julian — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:22:49 +0000

@David Cain I was pretty impressed with 3 mins too lol. My electric brush pulses after 2 mins and I find that long enough! @Lisis The advertising on TV is another reason it's bad for kids too. It sucks them in and they aren't happy unless they have the latest doll, truck, clothes etc. Not good for parent's bank balances either!

By: Lisis

Lisis — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:10:14 +0000

@ David: You brush your teeth for three minutes! That’s a pretty thorough cleaning. ;-)

I am beginning to loathe t.v. particularly since there is ALWAYS something on. They even schedule stuff that makes it easy to rationalize spending hours watching: it’s educational, it keeps us informed, it’s incredibly entertaining… there’s no end to it.

For the most part, I can live without it, but I see my son get “hooked” by the “coming up next” cliff-hangers on kiddie channels. It drives me nuts because it makes ME the bad guy when I say it’s time to turn it off: “But Mom, (something or other) is coming up next!” He is not old enough to understand it’s like that 24/7.

I think t.v. is a socially acceptable life-wasting addiction.

By: David Cain

David Cain — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:29:43 +0000

I canceled my TV service a long time ago, but they came to the door offering two months free. Stupidly, I signed up, and I don’t even turn it on. There is always something more rewarding to do.

I turn it on for three minutes and watch while I brush my teeth, that’s it.

By: Julian

Julian — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 06:37:19 +0000

@Ian Peatey I can relate to that Ian, years ago I lived in Japan for a year and I would sometimes watch the local TV, even though I couldn't really understand the language. I guess the habit was so established in those days that I would still slip into it even under those circumstances. I think I justified it by telling myself it was a way of studying the local culture - they do have some pretty bizarre game shows over there!

By: Ian Peatey

Ian Peatey — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 06:13:45 +0000

I used to be what you might call a ‘TV addict’. First thing I did when I got home was switch on the TV and it was the thing turned off before I went to bed.

Two things changed all that. First thing was I moved to a country where I don’t speak the language and before the days when cable and satellite TV was readily available. That might be a bit drastic as a way to control TV watching. Later, once satellite was available and I started to slip into old habits, I threw it out. No TV. No problem! It does work!

By: Julian

Julian — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:24:11 +0000

@Garry - thisimprovedlife They are crafty alright, they do that here with some shows as well. @Alex @ Happiness in this World Yes I agree it is an addiction of sorts. But it's subtle and insidious, as in the example Garry gave, so it's easy to not recognise it as one.

By: Alex @ Happiness in this World

Alex @ Happiness in this World — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:40:10 +0000

Oh, do I agree with this one! The television is a life-sucker! SO easy to get pulled into channel surfing as you describe. For me the saving grace was a digital video recorder. I now only watch what I’ve decided ahead of time is worth watching–and find I watch FAR less and that what I do watch is of FAR better quality (so that I don’t feel I’ve wasted precious minutes/hours of my life watching it). And now I’m too busy and loving what I’m doing to bother wasting time watching television. It really is like an addiction, isn’t it?

By: Garry - thisimprovedlife

Garry - thisimprovedlife — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:08:42 +0000

Recording programs and the switching off realy work in our household.
We tend to have early nights and early morning, so if anything is on TV late we just don’t tend to bother or we would record it. What TV companies do here in the UK is give a little taster of the next program during the end titles of the current one. That way the audience is already getting hooked on sitting there for another hour. You have to be disciplined and jump up and turn it off, otherwise you soon find your entire evening has been handed over to the TV moguls and advertisers.