There is no apartment without a TV-set nowadays. The idiot box became a significant part of every single house. Some people treat it as a family member. They spend a lot of spare time by watching news, movies, TV-programs and series. People often turn on their TV-sets automatically, without any special reason to watch something. It is known, that a common man spends about 3-4 hours a day sitting behind the TV screen that makes half of his everyday rest. That means he will spend about 9 years being stick to his idiot box. Some TV admirers are able to spend up to 8 hours a day by watching television.
Somebody will say, this addiction is a usual thing, nothing special at all. We all have got a bunch of dependences: on computers, cell phones, cars and other conveniences of our civilization. But they are not drugs. The thing is that TV addiction (like any other addiction) makes a person its slave, unnoticeably causing lots of problems with his health - both physical and mental. The people, who suffer from TV addiction, become so helpless, that can’t stop watching it; they use idiot box to calm down their nerves, and become angry, if they have to stop.
During laboratory experiments the scientists studied people’s reaction on television by observing their brainwaves on electroencephalogram. The participants, who were watching TV, became very relaxed and passive, and their electroencephalograms by that time registered decreased intellectual activity. After watching TV the people continue being relaxed and passive like after taking sedatives. The person becomes practically disconnected from reality by watching television, and it leads to obsessive intention to do it again and again.
Constant sitting behind the TV screen has several consequences:
There is a question: how much time spent by watching television does say about TV addiction? If a person spends not less than 2-3 hours a day behind the screen, we can talk about such dependence. For children this time is less by 50 percent. Listen to yourself. If you feel uncomfortable and worried, when the TV-set is off, that means you suffer from TV addiction.
The best way to overcome TV addiction in your life once and forever - is to throw it away or turn off cable television without possibility to recover. But this variant is not good for everyone, moreover there are certainly another people living in your house, who will be against such cardinal and decisive arrangements. Therefore that’s try some less painful methods, which will help you to decrease the time spent behind the TV-set.
When the person realizes his dependence on television, he can start the process of abolition. Certainly it will take more, than 5 minutes. All depends first of all on genuine desire of a person to become free from this addiction. There are some rules (guidelines), which may help to simplify the process.
First of all – you need to take a TV-program and choose only that, which you can’t imagine your life without. Someone can’t live without news, another one – without comedy shows. It is recommended to forget about numerous series and dull shows. Try to keep to your list of preferences and don’t watch everything and anything. When your favorite show stops going on air, don’t change it by something new. Take everything you watch, including shows and series, with a shakerful of salt.
The next step is watching television in combination with some useful work. In other words you may vacuum your room, prepare supper, train your body at the same time and so on. Organize yourself, your time and homework so, that you can do something else besides watching TV. You shouldn’t be lying on the sofa like a vegetable. Let your idiot box be just a background for your activities.
If your strength of will is not enough to refuse TV, make some motivations for yourself. Count everything you have done today, and the time, spent for every action. Include sleeping, eating and everything except TV time. Then take this time from 24 hours, and you will be surprised, how many precious minutes you spent for nothing.
Then you need to analyze your new relation to television. If your dependence on TV is decreasing, help somebody else to overcome his addiction too. If you have children in your family – try to protect them from the same problem. Protect your child from this disaster! You don’t wish him impaired vision and mental disorder (we all know it pretty well – what can one see on TV, if watching everything and anything), do you? As we noticed it before, the child becomes TV addict by watching television half the time, than the adult watches.
During your fight against this dependence always try to remember, what you’ve been up to, before started watching TV. You need to occupy yourself with something new: reading a book, daily walking through the park, meeting with friends, going in for sports, swimming in the pool etc. The world offers you today so many opportunities! Try to map out your every evening. Visit exhibitions, performances, all sorts of attractions or just go walking, and you won’t have time for television, and your life will become more full and variegated.
