Growing up my mom never let me watch more than one hour of television per night.
She literally forced me to read; to play sports; to hang out with friends; to socialize; and to get out of the house. She hated television and she didn’t want me to become a couch slouch and waste hours aimlessly watching what she called “the boob tube”.
Moms always know best, don’t they?
Click here and read this great article about unhappy people and television viewing.
It is the summer. Get out of the house. Go volunteer. Go do something fun. Go to a Mystics game or a movie or a museum or play a board game. Go swimming - go running. Become a Big Brother or a Big Sister. Take some online classes. Mentor a student. Do anything active and social. Drop the isolation and stop watching so much television. You will be happier. Those are the facts.
Totally agree w/your Mom. Would like my baby son to grow up happy and successful as you seem to be ~ would enjoy reading more about your childhood (maybe when your book comes out?) Thanks, Susan
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Hey Teddy, that’s what I call it “The Boob Tube” unless of course “My Caps” are on. Isolation is not good for anyone. Create good habits, don’t be afraid to fail or make a mistake, and engage life. Moms do know best and they never stop worrying!
Put three large TVs to the curb last Summer.
TV has replaced human interaction; esp. in the suburbs.
I don’t watch any TV whatsoever; avoid it like the plague. After several years of this more or less; I can actually fell my mond dulling if I begin to watch a moment in a doctors office, or public place. One need look no further than the song “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones to get the point. Mick sums it up great; this was also a favorite cover of the Grateful Dead;
I can’t get no satisfaction
I can’t get no satisfaction
‘Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can’t get no, I can’t get no
When I’m drivin’ in my car
And a man comes on the radio
He’s telling me more and more
About some useless information
Supposed to fire my imagination
I can’t get no, oh no no no
Hey hey hey, that’s what I say
I can’t get no satisfaction
I can’t get no satisfaction
‘Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can’t get no, I can’t get no
When I’m watchin’ my TV
And a man comes on to tell me
How white my shirts can be
But he can’t be a man ’cause he doesn’t smoke
The same cigarrettes as me
I can’t get no, oh no no no
Hey hey hey, that’s what I say
I can’t get no satisfaction
I can’t get no girlie action
‘Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can’t get no, I can’t get no
When I’m ridin’ round the world
And I’m doin’ this and I’m signing that
And I’m tryin’ to make some girl
Who tells me baby better come back later next week
‘Cause you see I’m on losing streak
I can’t get no, a no no no
Hey hey hey, that’s what I say
I can’t get no, I can’t get no
I can’t get no satisfaction
No satisfaction, no satisfaction, no satisfaction
w/ the web growing more and more as a social utility via blogs, social sites, tweets and texts the computer has evolved from a 2D interface to a 3D one, something the TV is clearly incapable…but will the next generation be able to dialogue face to face and if not, i predict they WON’T be happy!
Steve is exactly right. This article uses misleading phrases like “studies confirm it,” and leads the reader (Ted, in this case) to the wrong (but more interesting) conclusion. http://xkcd.com/552/
Huh. Ted did you read the referenced study mentioned in the article? It certainly doesn’t rule out other factors for unhappiness nor that being less happy in some other way doesn’t lead to television usage, not the other way around. In short, correlation does not imply causation. More over, this was based on self reporting journals- not the most reliable source of truthful information. Finally, I would suggest there’s a whole lot of people who spend hours at a time in front of a television: Caps fans watching away games. Be careful biting the hand that feeds you.
Ted,
I don’t disagree with your general recommendation; however, this is a classic case of mistaking correlation for causation. Studies can only show that people who watch more TV are unhappier, but unless there are randomly assigned experimental groups with controls, they cannot show that the TV actually *caused* the unhappiness.
In other words, it’s just as likely that people who are unhappier are driven to watch more TV (they are already unhappy to begin with) or some external factor causes certain people to be both unhappy and watch more TV (e.g. unemployment).
Or come on up to Hershey, PA for games 3, 4 and maybe 5.
unless of course you are watching a hockey game…which makes you very happy!
Ted, your mom and my mom were cut from the same cloth. TV was a bad word in my household growing up! Great article. I’ll send it to her and she’ll be so appreciative.