Why You Need To Get Rid Of Your TV Now
How to be in charge of your life and your views need
I have tunnel vision. Sometimes it’s a blessing. Other times it’s really not. I don’t know if it’s genetic, but my twin also has it, and we can’t seem to change. Tunnel for me works in the following way: When I’m watching something, texting or typing something, or even just listening to something, a lot of the time, I’m just drawn in.
Someone will be sitting right next to me, asking a question or making a comment, even pulling my arm. But I don’t know about it. Hey, I’ll might even respond with a “mm, right.” But I still don’t know what you’ve said. I’m just drawn in. Or I’ll make a comment like “Hey, he looks exactly like Biden!” And the person next to me will say: “I just said that, like 30 seconds ago”. Maybe I heard it subconsciously? Or maybe he just really looked like Biden? I guess I’ll never know for sure.
TV-shows running the show
The tunnel-things makes it more obvious to me. But it affects each and every one of us. Things around us have an impact on our focus, on our thinking, on our mood. That’s why I threw out the TV years and years ago. Because it was constantly on, just broadcasting loads of crap.
It did teach me a lot of English in my teens. But that’s about it. The TV would be turned on the moment I got home from school. It would be on during meals, during homework or when I practiced my guitar (resulting in me being able to play the commercial tunes on it). “Gillette — the beeeest a maaaan can geeeet!”
Or why I knew the chords to “The Love Boat,” or the whole intro rap to “The Fresh Prince in Bel Air" long before I knew what all of the words meant. But maybe I wouldn’t be able to write well enough (although English is always a work in progress) to write on Medium today, if it wasn’t for Will Smith, the Cosby’s or the Muppet Show.
The wasted years
When I look back, I’ve wasted years of my time on things without meaning! Thankfully, I also read a lot of books. We didn’t have a TV in every room. We only had one, and that helped. We also didn’t have cable TV, so when I was very young, we only had one channel. In my tweens and teens, we had four.
I actually managed to free myself from my TV-addiction for several years. But it wasn’t due to any efforts of my own. Boarding school and travel just got in the way. So when I finally moved in to my own apartment, I was instantly sucked in all over again. The TV would just be on.
The filtered information
TV is an awful medium for several reasons. Firstly, it’s heavily filtered information. In the US, a TV channel will at least claim to lean in one direction or another. (Although it’s not necessarily a very honest claim). One channel will shout out the Republican narrative, and another will be an outspoken Democratic one. But how can you be confident your moral or political views are actually yours? Maybe you’re just responding to key words on auto-pilot?
In the Scandinavian countries, TV claims to be neutral! Non biased! This is a specially true for “Public Service”. Public Service is the government run TV. All programs — which really are an attempt to program the population, have gone through politically correct filters. The aim is to keep people in a secular, democratic spirit, to keep them entertained and to indirectly teach them how to think. This is done by politically correct fact-checking, by interviewing carefully vetted experts and by making documentaries and reports that shame any opposition. The choice of words are also not random. Are people protesting or rioting? Who are violent and who are excited? Who are governments and who are regimes?
Another trick, is to ridicule people who think too much outside the box, by actually giving them media attention. The aim is then to paint their evil picture with words of sarcasm, silly music in the background or by recording them when they’re not aware of it, and use the loose chatter as the actual broadcast material. No wonder all of the political parties build coalitions across the board. They’re differences are actually very minor, although the debates tend to be loud. The politicians themselves grew up on public service, like the rest of us.
You’re not in charge
The TV is in charge of your life, because it limits selective viewing. You don’t have the option of searching for a topic in the same way as you would online. You might start watching something you planned to watch, but then the screen just continues rolling. Suddenly you’re watching gameshows, sports, sitcoms or reality shows that you never planned to watch. Switching channels doesn’t necessarily help.
It’s very time consuming, it’s often a complete waste of brain activity and it doesn’t pay off. Just think about all the times you planned on doing something, and got caught up in some type of cheerful entertainment. TV doesn’t get you anywhere, because it pacifies your thinking. Many of the shows are cut together in a way that teaches your brain to quickly lose focus and forget about things. There’s a great chance your TV-watching habits actually make you stupid!
The loss of experience
TV prevents natural interaction with family and friends. In a normal environment, you would be asking each other questions, coming up with ideas of things to do together, like playing board games, reading a book of choice out loud or doing something creative. Maybe you would be more outside in nature, creating great memories together for the future? Instead, the TV provides an illusion of having experienced something together. In reality you’re passively watching someone else’s experience.
Human beings need to experience boredom. That way, our brains are forced to become creative. We can produce something ourselves; an idea, an invention, an experiment, or just go down a rabbit hole. To learn how to focus, how to master a skill, to ponder upon an idea or just meditate on the big questions, are priceless abilities. If the TV is just on, chances are we’ll just passively watch something the moment we don’t have something else to do.
The Internet can become the same thing
It is true that the internet may become the same hazard as the TV. Never, ever turn on the automatic YouTube-button, which just selects the next clip for you. If you do, it works the exact same way as your TV. Sure, the algorithms may provide a selection based on your habits and choice of topic. But that will be the case, even if you just see a list of recommended clips. Make sure you have to make the active choice of actually clicking on something.
Be in charge. With the internet, the world is in your hands. You have the opportunity of finding interesting people, topics and debates that previously were completely out of reach. I love that! After having become a selective viewer, I feel much more in control of my life. Now, I type in a persons name, a podcast I like, a question I have, and navigate my way around. And I’ve discovered some awesome people and ideas through recommendations.
A closed chapter
My TV is never coming back. All the news are posted online anyway. I’ll still be watching movies with the family. But then I plan for it, and select it carefully. If it still turns out to be a bad choice, I’ve learned to switch it off, or change to a different one. I still have tunnel vision. It’s very helpful when I’m writing or researching in a noisy environment. But it does continue to frustrate my loved ones. I wish I had been more wise in my youth, but I try to convert my mistakes into useful experiences to build upon. We are all continually being manipulated from all directions. But it’s important to never stop fighting back. Human beings have enormous potential. And that thought alone is worth a meditation.
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