Why do I live without TV

A few months ago, we introduced you to a few examples of the negative impact of excessive hobbies TV for life. The article caused your interest and numerous comments. Today we want to continue this topic and introduce you to the human experience, which is generally refused by television broadcasts.

A few months ago we were sitting with my girlfriend on the couch and watching another TV show. In fact, there was nothing wrong or special - we quite often lately doing it. It was pretty funny show and we really enjoyed watching it together. The problem was that we spent the last three hours, watching the life of complete strangers to us humans. During all this time we did not say a dozen words to each other.

So we sat on the couch, holding on to each other, but in fact we were infinitely far apart. I realized that at this moment I know that he thinks the protagonist of the film, much more than the thoughts of my beloved bride. This thought struck me like an electric shock: how much time we spend watching TV and how does it affect us? I decided to investigate the influence of television on the pair, and the results were not very good.

Generally speaking, the pair, who have a lot of time watching television, tend to have less sex, lead unhealthy lifestyles and are less satisfied overall. I began to look for examples of the positive influence of television on adults. It was not so easy. On the Internet, there is practically no information explaining how TV helps adults. There are several articles about the positive impact of educational programs for the education of children, that's probably all. The last straw for me was the quote by Brian Tracy:

"Poor people have big TVs and a small library; rich people have small TVs and a huge library "

I decided that I want to refer to the latter category.

After that, I talked to my beloved, and persuaded her to take a bold experiment: 60 days without television. She listened to my arguments and in the end asked only one small concession: 1 film evening a week. I quickly calculated that as a result, we reduce the time watching television 25 hours a week to 2 - well, a reasonable offer, so I accepted her conditions.

The first week was really difficult for us. We are so accustomed to sitting on the couch watching TV, just did not know what else you can do. Worse yet, it was in the middle of the hot season in Antalya, Turkey, in this way of walking and active recreation there was no question.

After about five days of the first changes began: we began to talk more. Much bigger. During these 60 days, I learned about his girlfriend more than in the past 6 months. And I liked it. She's really cool!

In addition, we both have become much more time to perform other things that we've always liked. I quadrupled More began to read, and she to do their favorite crafts. Now I have a good winter hat thanks to this experiment.

When the stipulated 60 days of the experiment was over, we decided that we will again watch our favorite TV series. It's not much, compared with the 32 hours per week that the average American spends watching TV. But the last two months were not wasted, we felt was not as expected.

I immediately felt that it all goes wrong: we again have become less talk to each other, I have become much lazier and reading have no time. We began to swear. This led to the fact that we mutually and knowingly restored the rule of "one evening a movie a week."

That was 8 months ago and we will never go back again into the ranks of TV viewers.

A short list of conclusions from this story:

1. Our relations are much better. And if they happen to quarrel, then we talk and listen to each other, instead of hiding behind the screens again.

2. We became good cook and delicious to eat. Now we are not in a hurry as soon as in cooking, because that's about to begin the transfer. We have time to enjoy cooking and its destruction.

3. Our dinners are served in peace and quiet. We do get the pleasure of communicating at the table.

4. Our vision of the future has changed. Previously we did not have too much time to talk about the future. Many of our thoughts revolved around the TV show, we get carried away. Now we talk a lot about what will happen next in our lives. And we know that it does not depend on the television program guide.

5. My business has become calmer. I do not feel a constant shortage of time. Even when leans multiple tasks at the same time, I'm much easier to deal with them in the time that I had spent on mindless entertainment.

6. We have become more interesting. This seems very counter-intuitive, because at the beginning of the experiment, I was very afraid that I am no longer able to keep the conversation going on all these TV shows, as I used to. But it turned out quite the opposite. Although we do not talk more about the TV, but we can talk about the books we read and the projects on which we have worked. We were really great stories that we can talk with our friends. Not to mention the fact that we have become a brilliant cook and everyone is waiting for when we will invite them to visit and something will treat :).

7. Our social life has improved. If you are not glued to the TV over, then you have much more time is left for real communication. We try to spend at least one evening a week visiting friends. We have time to maintain old connections and make new acquaintances.

8. We have become more active. We love to walk with our dog in the park. We've done it before, but now our walks have become much more frequent and longer.

This benefits and advantages of giving up television captivity, who had come to my mind right now. But other than that, we had a general feeling of happiness, which we lacked before. I do not want to lose this feeling, in exchange for the right to watch television again.

Now it's your turn: tell us what will happen if you give up television for 60 days?