Want to spend less time in front of the tube this summer? Kate Bartolotta shares 4 big reasons to do just that.
The most recent study I could find says the “average” American watches five hours of television per day.
Now, my guess is that many readers here don’t watch five hours daily, barring cases of illness or similar. It’s been about three years since I stopped watching television. Okay, let me qualify that: it’s been about three years since I stopped watching commercial and cable television; I still watch “television shows” on Netflix from time to time. There are some subtle, but wonderful, things that happen when you stop watching commercial TV.
1. You cut back on the bombardment of commercialized reality as a social norm.
In a way, this is like a subtle form of peer pressure, yet I guess that would make corporations the peers doing the pressuring. In case you didn’t know, most sitcoms do not portray anything remotely like real life, either in terms of gender roles, relationships, values…pretty much anything important. Add commercials every 15 minutes or so, and you get a little extra boost of higher volume, more unrealistic ideals. As adults, we may have a slightly better filter than children to understand that those things aren’t “real,” but then why use five hours of your precious day on it? I’d rather choose the “unreality” of a sci-fi or fantasy oriented story (onscreen or on the page) instead of a commercially concocted fantasy of what being a person is supposed to be like.
2. You take an active rather than a passive role in your entertainment intake.
Have you ever been driving with the radio on and noticed yourself feeling slightly irritated only to realize you’d been listening to something annoying? That is often the case with passive television watching. If you go through meals or other activities with the television just sort of “on” without proactively choosing to watch something you enjoy, it’s like sitting down with a bag of soggy potato chips that don’t really taste good when you aren’t hungry, and eating them just because they’re there. There is some quality writing and acting in the entertainment industry; I’m not against choosing that kind of entertainment. But be proactive! Choose something that engages you, that inspires you, or truly makes you laugh—and not just sort of laugh along with the tired old jokes we make about being human that aren’t even true.
3. You feel much less compelled to buy crap you don’t need.
Commercial television exists to sell products. Period. I’m not saying this to negate my earlier statement; I do believe there is some fantastic writing and acting in the industry. But if you are watching something on a major network, it exists to sell you things and to sell you an idea on what your role is in our society. Opt out for a bit and see if you notice a drop off in the things you think you need to buy.
4. You may also improve your quality of sleep and lower several health risks.
While it’s hard to know what is causation and what is merely correlation between TV watching and elevated health risks (diabetes, heart disease, lowered male fertility, etc.) choosing other activities will actively improve your health. If in some of the time you would normally watch television you instead go for a walk, read a book, have a conversation, meditate, play, you will definitely reap the benefits of those activities.
So, what if we took the summer completely off of TV?
My kids like to watch shows online—mainly My Little Pony and kid-friendly anime, so no big complaints there. When they have seen commercials, sometimes I’ll point out things in them that are ridiculous, to the point that now my daughter will hear commercials on the radio when we drive and say, “I think they’re probably just saying that because they want people to buy it.”
As a parent, I like to lead by example, share what I’ve learned and let them figure a lot out on their own as well. We talk about factory farms and why we don’t buy things from them. We talk about how our decisions affect other people and the environment. We talk about how there are lots of different ways for people to be, to think, and to believe and how to respect all of them. And as much as it’s reasonable, we make decisions all together. So as we started talking about what we wanted our summer to be like, I suggested we might consider skipping all that for the summer.
We talked about it and decided the following:
1. We all like movies, so we would still do movies from time to time, either at home or the movie theater. This felt like a good compromise. I was pleased and surprised at how quickly they were on board with the idea, so occasional movies (especially on a too hot to do anything day) seemed like a good idea.
2. We wanted to make a big list of what we wanted to do this summer. It always goes by quickly, and between work and camp, etc. it’s easy to get to September and miss out on what you had intended to do.
So the three of us contributed to the following list:
1. Make Gak with Grammy
2. Go to the Drive-in movies
3. Strawberry/blueberry picking
4. Make jam
5. Go to Great Wolf Lodge
6. Practice our French
7. Make cherry pie from scratch
8. Sell something at the farmers’ market on kids’ day
9. Make soap
10. Volunteer at the cat rescue
11. Stomp in the river
12. Go to Cape Cod
13. Go on a Ferris wheel
14. Make recycled paper
15. Visit Uconn barns
16. Build a tree fort
17. Build a model airplane
18. Go to Misquamicut beach
19. Have a lemonade stand
20. Make pickles
21. Boston Science Museum
22. Camp out in the woods
23. Make popcorn and s’mores at the campfire
24. Go birdwatching
25. Make homemade sushi
26. Go canoeing
27. Learn some card tricks
28. Do a 1000 piece puzzle
29. Write a letter to Uncle Charles
30. Play capture the flag with friends
31. Go horseback riding
32. Catch fireflies
33. Make kombucha
34. Learn how to spin wool
35. Go to Wadsworth Atheneum
36. Make homemade salsa
37. Make a big collage for the living room
38. Climb trees
39. Finish reading the Little House series
40. Go see fireworks
41. Tie-dye shirts
42. Set up Hogwarts Express (our Harry Potter train set)
43. Have a Harry Potter night
44. Make friendship bracelets
45. Do/get henna tattoos
46. Play Scrabble with Grammy & Grampy
47. Play in the rain in our bathing suits
48. Walk the Freedom Trail
49. Make cookies for our neighbors
50. Make a giant sandcastle.
And honestly, even if we do half of those, it will be an awesome summer!
As we finished the list, we all kept thinking of other things we’d like to add and try to do, so it may continue to evolve. We also decided to photograph each of them and make a little summer scrapbook. You don’t need to have kids to make a summer list; you don’t even have to be taking any vacation time. What I love about our list is that apart from a few entries (i.e. Great Wolf Lodge) most of the list can be done for $10 or less. And if we do a little looking and are creative, even some of the activities with a cost associated can be done for less (museums often have discounts or special events; we can borrow rather than rent a canoe, etc.) You don’t have to spend a ton of money to have a great summer. Instead of crashing in front of the TV, make this summer different! And then when you get to the end, you can make a fall list.
(P.S. There was one important thing that didn’t make the list, but I hope we do often. Nothing. Summer is a great time to remember how to do nothing. To just be still, lie in the grass and look at the sky. If you’ve forgotten how, now’s as good a time as any!)
Adapted from its previous appearance on Be You Media Group.
Photo: Payalnic on Flickr
The post How (and Why) to Have a TV-Free Summer appeared first on The Good Men Project.
