365 Ways To Wellbeing – 243rd Way
We haven’t been watching TV for four months now. It has been rather easy since we’ve been out on the lake and in nature practically the whole summer. We are watching TV mainly during the dark autumn and winter nights or when we are sick at home. But again we realized how little we actually need TV. Watching TV is just a habit that takes a lot of time that we could use much better. Time that we don’t have that much. Time that we want to use as well as we can.
It’s not all bad of course. Sometimes it’s nice to spend a relaxing TV evening or watch a movie. But more often than not you just find yourself channel surfing feeling indifferent and numb. I’ve noticed this now when the nights are getting darker and I have an urge to put on the TV.
Here’s a little calculation: Average american watches tv about 5 hours a day (europeans are not far behind). That’s 1825 hours a year. That is 76 days! So in 10 years it’s mind boggling 760 days, which means about 2 years. And that is only watching TV, not all “screen time”. Average screen time is 8,5 hours a day. And it’s increasing all the time. So roughly we could say that we spend a third of our life in front of some sort of a screen.
It is of course needless to say that this is a health issue which makes it a wellbeing issue also. I’m not trying to judge anyone here, just to point out something we might haven’t realized. Something that I had forgotten too. It’s good for your wellbeing to relax and watch TV sometimes, but not all the time.
Realizing that I don’t want TV to rule my life made my day this day!
Read more about my “Wellbeing Challenge 2013 – 365 ways to wellbeing”.
