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：我们为什么一直开着电视？

在我们打开电视机前，我们觉得看电视是这个时候最值得做的事情了。打开电视很容易，只要按下开关按钮。我们看电视的时候，不需要思考，我们只需要坐着，沉溺于电视屏幕和节目中的声音，还有那些角色和剧情。我们集中权精力电视似乎忘了所有的一切。看电视成为我们推迟不去做事情的最好借口。

我们看电视，尽管电视上没有什么好看的还是继续看。我们翻遍了所有的频道，想要找到可以让我们一直看下去的频道。除了看电视我不想做任何其他的事情，甚至不想动一下。在我们意识到之前，我们已经看了比我们计划要看电视的时间长得多了，而且耽误了我们应该做的事情。

让我来问问你，在你离开电视后，你有什么感觉呢？你是否自我感觉良好呢？就我个人而言，我感觉很糟糕，为我不去做事情而有罪恶感，而且感到我缺乏意志力。

以下是我个人觉得电视对我们生活产生的影响：

*精神杂乱——在电视上的大部分东西是毫无益处的。我们看电视只是为了满足我们的好奇心，害怕没有事情做。看电视可以在短时间内有事情可以做并消磨时间。大部分时间它成为我思想和内心没有必要的噪音。

* 精神消耗——我感到筋疲力尽。可以说，在消极地一直看电视后，我的头脑变得麻木，感到困乏。这是因为我们的大脑在不断地看不同的画面，听到不同的信息，尽管我们只是消极地接收信息，我们还是感到疲劳。

* 极度沉溺——我想要看更多。在看完了我原本想要看的电视后，我们应该做些什么呢？我们会很自然地拿器遥控器按其他频道，看看还有什么好看的电视。通常我们原本只是想看一个节目，但结果却多看了几个小时原本不在我们计划中的节目。

* 浪费时间——由于看电视会让人沉迷，因此它会耗费你更多的时间。你就不会去做其他更有意义的事情。

* 不良感觉——在我关掉电视后我的感觉总是很不好。除了一些记录片和秀，大部分的节目对你而言都没有什么意义。

* 推迟——一旦你沉迷于电视。你就会分心，推迟去做你应该完成的任务。你会让你自己不断的拖延。我发现我自己就有这个倾向，因为我就因此不断地拖延完成这篇博客。

* 扼杀想象力——我还记的在几年前我读的一篇有关孩子发展和想象力的调查报告。这份调查报告的结论是阅读能激发想象力，而看电视却会扼杀想象力。当我们看电视的时候，我们只是消极地接收和处理那些可视信息，几乎不需要什么想象。但在阅读的时候，你需要认真阅读，将其中的信息转化为可视信息理解其中的意思。

* 不良姿势——当我们休息的时候，我们常常躺坐在沙发上。当我们被那些有趣的电视节目吸引住的时候，我们常常会忽视我们的姿势，保持同样的姿势很长时间。这对我们身体健康肯定是无益的。在回去的班机上，由于脊背的疼痛我几乎无法直坐。

* 罪恶感——当我们没有完成原本计划的任务时我们都会有罪恶感。当你在开始工作的时候意识到你一点点都没有完成，你就会受到良心的谴责。