wanted to understand: why do we keep turning the TV on?

Before we’re about to turn on the TV, it feels as if it is the best thing to do at this moment. It’s easy; just one flick of a button. When we’re watching it, we don’t have to think, we just sit back passively while absorbing the bright lights and sounds, characters and plot lines. We seemingly forget everything else while we are entirely focussed. Television becomes a nice excuse to delay our responsibilities.

We watch TV, even if there isn’t anything good on. We find ourselves surfing through all the channels, hoping to find anything to keep us there. I feels so much easier than any alternate, which would mean leaving our comfortable position. Before we know it, we’ve been staring at the TV for longer than we planned and delayed what really needed to get done.

Let me ask you, how do you feel after getting up from watching TV? Do you feel good about yourself? Personally, I feel terrible; guilty of procrastinating and frustrated with my lack of willpower.

Here are some effects of TV watching based on my experience:

* Mental Clutter -Most things on TV are useless and uninspiring. We are drawn to them to satisfy our curiosity and fear of being alone without things to do. It almost gives us a sense of temporary purpose and a great way to kill time. Most simply becomes unnecessary noise that clutters my mind and inner space.

* Mentally Draining -I feel tired and drained. Literally, after staring at the screen passively, my head is numb and I feel sleepy. This is because our brains are actively working to process the highly visual and auditory information, even though we are sitting there passively receiving the information.

* Highly Addictive -I want to watch more. After watching the show we’ve planned to watch, what do we do afterwards? The natural tendency is to click around and see what else is on. It’s not unusual to set out wanting to watch one show and ending up watching several more hours of unplanned TV ‘action’.

* Time Consuming -Due to its addictive qualities, it has the tendency to suck your time. You are not able to do other things more empowering or beneficial.

* Feeling Crappy -I never feel good about myself after I finally pry my eyes from the TV set. With the exception of some documentaries and shows, most shows don’t leave you empowered or inspired.

* Procrastination -You get drawn in. You get distracted and delay your tasks. You encourage yourself to procrastinate. I noticed this tendency in myself, as I am procrastinating to complete this blog post.

* Kills Imagination- I remember reading a study several years ago on child development and imagination. They concluded that reading tends to stimulate imagination, and extensive TV watching suppresses imagination. When we are watching TV, we are passively receiving and processing visual information, and little imagination is required. Whereas when reading, you are actively reading words and then converting them into visual information or meaning.

* Bad Posture -It’s easy to slide down into couch when we relax. When we are absorbed by a riveting show, we tend to disregard any physical sensation and rest in the same position. This can’t possibly be conducive for our physical health. On my flight home from my holiday, I could barely sit up because of pain in my lower back.

*Guilt -Naturally, we feel guilty when we haven’t accomplished what we’ve set out to do. Once you realize that you are no further ahead than you were when you started, your conscience jumps on you.

我想要知道：我們為什么一直開著電視？

在我們打開電視機前，我們覺得看電視是這個時候最值得做的事情了。打開電視很容易，只要按下開關按鈕。我們看電視的時候，不需要思考，我們只需要坐著，沉溺于電視屏幕和節目中的聲音，還有那些角色和劇情。我們集中權精力電視似乎忘了所有的一切。看電視成為我們推遲不去做事情的最好借口。

我們看電視，盡管電視上沒有什么好看的還是繼續看。我們翻遍了所有的頻道，想要找到可以讓我們一直看下去的頻道。除了看電視我不想做任何其他的事情，甚至不想動一下。在我們意識到之前，我們已經看了比我們計劃要看電視的時間長得多了，而且耽誤了我們應該做的事情。

讓我來問問你，在你離開電視后，你有什么感覺呢？你是否自我感覺良好呢？就我個人而言，我感覺很糟糕，為我不去做事情而有罪惡感，而且感到我缺乏意志力。

以下是我個人覺得電視對我們生活產生的影響：

*精神雜亂——在電視上的大部分東西是毫無益處的。我們看電視只是為了滿足我們的好奇心，害怕沒有事情做。看電視可以在短時間內有事情可以做并消磨時間。大部分時間它成為我思想和內心沒有必要的噪音。

* 精神消耗——我感到筋疲力盡。可以說，在消極地一直看電視后，我的頭腦變得麻木，感到困乏。這是因為我們的大腦在不斷地看不同的畫面，聽到不同的信息，盡管我們只是消極地接收信息，我們還是感到疲勞。

* 極度沉溺——我想要看更多。在看完了我原本想要看的電視后，我們應該做些什么呢？我們會很自然地拿器遙控器按其他頻道，看看還有什么好看的電視。通常我們原本只是想看一個節目，但結果卻多看了幾個小時原本不在我們計劃中的節目。

* 浪費時間——由于看電視會讓人沉迷，因此它會耗費你更多的時間。你就不會去做其他更有意義的事情。

* 不良感覺——在我關掉電視后我的感覺總是很不好。除了一些記錄片和秀，大部分的節目對你而言都沒有什么意義。

* 推遲——一旦你沉迷于電視。你就會分心，推遲去做你應該完成的任務。你會讓你自己不斷的拖延。我發現我自己就有這個傾向，因為我就因此不斷地拖延完成這篇博客。

* 扼殺想象力——我還記的在幾年前我讀的一篇有關孩子發展和想象力的調查報告。這份調查報告的結論是閱讀能激發想象力，而看電視卻會扼殺想象力。當我們看電視的時候，我們只是消極地接收和處理那些可視信息，幾乎不需要什么想象。但在閱讀的時候，你需要認真閱讀，將其中的信息轉化為可視信息理解其中的意思。

* 不良姿勢——當我們休息的時候，我們常常躺坐在沙發上。當我們被那些有趣的電視節目吸引住的時候，我們常常會忽視我們的姿勢，保持同樣的姿勢很長時間。這對我們身體健康肯定是無益的。在回去的班機上，由于脊背的疼痛我幾乎無法直坐。

* 罪惡感——當我們沒有完成原本計劃的任務時我們都會有罪惡感。當你在開始工作的時候意識到你一點點都沒有完成，你就會受到良心的譴責。