Take a minute to think of all the television programs you have watched throughout your lifetime.
For me? Arthur, The Rugrats, Doug, Full House, Family Matters, Clarissa Explains It All, The Jeffersons, The Golden Girls, Pete and Pete, The OC, Laguna Beach, The Office, Scrubs, Scandal, The Real Housewives of fill in the blank, The Wire, Parks and Rec, Always Sunny, Mr. Robot, Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley, Veep, Girls - OK that’s enough. I know that list doesn’t even scratch the surface. Initially it's fun to reminisce about these shows but a darker realization comes over me when I make these lists – oh my goodness, in my life I have watched THAT many shows? In the moment, it seems innocent to have a show you are watching but looking back at the culmination over all of these years - it's a bit astounding.
There are some fantastic programs and "what are you watching?" has become a standard topic of my social conversations. But I also resent the nights that I realize I've only watched TV when there are so many things I ultimately want to do with my life. I convince myself that it's been a long day and I’m too tired, but sometimes I know that's just a cop-out.
At a recent ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) training, I was given this exercise:
Close your eyes and imagine you are at your 80th birthday party. Who is in the room celebrating with you? What do they appreciate about you? How would they describe you and your life of 80 years?
The exercise proceeds to ask how your current actions are contributing to those outcomes. I’m not really sure how the hours of television I have watched are going to influence the answers to those questions.
I LOVE watching TV so no judgment here. I'm not taking the stance that television is bad. And yes of course television can be educational. But after awhile of watching, is Planet Earth or HDTV enhancing your life or helping you to hide from it?
I also have a habit of “just having stuff on in the background” when completing tasks – but I have to wonder to what degree is that preventing my mind from wondering or exploring? Something makes me resist the silence that comes once I turn off the TV.
I think I can be more purposeful about how I watch TV and what I do instead. So I'm going to experiment...
I am not going to say I will never watch TV again. Let’s be real here. But at the least, for the next month, here is the only television I will allow myself to watch:
CBS News - weekdays 7:00 – 8:00ish am - I listen as I get ready and eat breakfast. I like to stay informed and this is the most time effective way for me in the morning.
CBS News Sunday Morning - 9:00 - 10:30 am (I swear this post isn’t sponsored content for CBS) - I have watched this program every Sunday morning since I was a kid. I always learn something new and it is part of a tradition of coffee, breakfast and the Sunday paper.
Game of Thrones - Sunday 9:00-10:00 pm My fiancé and I enjoy the show together (at least I do – he is patient as I still need him to explain most of it to me). So in some ways it is a shared activity. Note - you could probably excuse every show as a "shared activity" but I am limiting it to just one.
So that is it. For the next month, this is all the television I will watch. What do I hope to do instead?
- Go for more walks.
- Clean (like really clean, not just the easy stuff you can see).
- Reach out to friends.
- Maybe I'll just sit there, let my mind wander and spend some time getting familiar with the silence I try so hard to avoid.
- WHO-KNOWS-WHAT-ELSE! How exciting to think of my evenings as free to infinite possibilities of whatever I feel like doing in the moment.
Next blog I will share how it goes. Will you join me? Here are ideas of changes you could make in the next month, as opposed to going cold turkey:
- Pick two or three days a week that will be consistently TV free.
- A long time ago I made the decision to keep the television out of my bedroom. I haven't missed it. Try removing yours for a month.
- Make a list of the shows you watch. Is there one you can cut out for a month and do something else with that time instead?
- Is there an activity you can commit to doing for the next month which will result in less TV watching?
- Choose a TV curfew to stick to. No television after _:___ pm.
(I want to note as someone who has experienced a limiting health condition, I know what it's like to feel restricted in your ability to do anything other than watch TV. And sometimes that is all we can do. I can only gently suggest that if you want to make a change, short breaks for activities like coloring, crosswords, mindful meditation, board games, reading short stories, playing an instrument, journaling, or playing phone games that teach you a new language like Duolingo are all ideas to start with.)
I would love to hear from you. Tell me what challenge you come up with and how it goes!
