Author Topic: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?  (Read 9682 times)

FamilyGuy

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #50 on: October 06, 2018, 12:04:05 PM »
@tralfamadorian Thank you...Yes, that's in the list. I have a gym in the office. So I'm planning to hit that regularly. I have been going to gym 3 days a week before my last big vacation which was a month back. I have to resume that routine.

DreamFIRE

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #51 on: October 06, 2018, 12:56:04 PM »
Usually, either basic dramas, or reality TV. I know what whisking looks like, I don't need to watch every second of it on the Great British Baking Show. When it comes time to show off and judge the finished products, I put down what I am doing and watch. If the handsome firefighters are heroically rescuing someone from a burning building, I will give them my eyeballs. WHen they're standing around arguing about their girlfriends, I can do a few crossword answers and just listen. Basically, I watch the visually interesting parts. Also, since I live alone, I have no compunction about rewinding if I miss something. I would drive a partner crazy, I'm sure, and when I do watch something with other people, I usually don't multitask.

I do the same thing.  Not every second of a show needs my eyes, so I do something else while the mundane parts are on and when the action heats up I pay attention.

Exactly, I don't need to be staring at a TV screen during every second of a football game or nightly news.  Heck, I often even skip parts by fast-forwarding with the DVR because I don't have time to watch all of it, plus I skip through commercials.

I haven't watched much TV through the summer but watch a little more in the winter months.  It's NFL football season!  I watch very little in the form of "TV shows".  I don't watch cable news, reality TV, late-night talk shows, or other sports.

If I watch a movie, I want to be able to focus on it throughout.

TV is also very low cost entertainment.  I have an antenna and home theater PC as a DVR, so I pay no subscriptions.  Electricity is minimal.

Davnasty

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #52 on: October 06, 2018, 03:23:11 PM »
I find that less TV (particularly at night) means I sleep much better.

I slept like a baby last night. Might be because of less TV experience and making my brain work a lot more :). Over 10 hours of solid sleep. Good for a weekend I think.

Dangit. I came here to tell you to watch less TV and now it seems I must acknowledge that I shouldn't be watching right before bed. I don't watch much but I do watch late and there are plenty of studies suggesting this affects quality of sleep.

MicroRN

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #53 on: October 06, 2018, 04:24:47 PM »
Good work on the TV diet!  We don't watch a lot of TV, but I do spend too much time on the internet.  Most weeks my husband and I watch 1 movie or 2-3 episodes of a show, generally on Sunday night, and we do a movie with the kids on Saturday night.  The kids get about 20-30 minutes of TV or video games on weeknights while I cook dinner, then ~2hours in between when they get up on the weekend and when we wake up.  That's the bribe to stay quiet and let us sleep in.

However, outside of work, I typically spend about an hour a weeknight and 2-3 hours per weekend day online, and I feel I should cut that way down.  That's usually concurrent with my husband playing video games.  I started about a month ago by deleting Facebook from my cell phone.  It's helped, but that wasn't the only place I waste time online, and most of what I do really is wasting time.  I could stay up to date on everything that truly interests me in about 15-20 min every 2-3 days.  I just need to break suction and go read a book instead!     

FamilyGuy

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #54 on: October 06, 2018, 09:15:20 PM »
TV Diet Day 3:

Today's TV time was less than 60 minutes. (what would have been 8 hours easily). I'm going to list things that I did which I'd have not done if I was sitting on TV.

1. Completed the project 1 (custom FI workbook). Still I got to do some updates end of Oct but for now, the work is done. As I have real estate, investments in peer to peer lending, investments in family business outside of the country...and some of them here, I had to build my own version of the workbook. This took almost 3 days.

2. Cleaned Garage. Was on my to do for several weeks.

3. Organized the closet. Was on my to do for several weeks.

4. Changed Air filters in the home. Again was on my to do for so long.

Today feels like a long day (just like yesterday) and I'm exhausted and ready to sleep. Good night for those who gonna sleep. Good day for the rest of you folks.

FamilyGuy

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #55 on: October 06, 2018, 09:20:27 PM »
I find that less TV (particularly at night) means I sleep much better.

I slept like a baby last night. Might be because of less TV experience and making my brain work a lot more :). Over 10 hours of solid sleep. Good for a weekend I think.

Dangit. I came here to tell you to watch less TV and now it seems I must acknowledge that I shouldn't be watching right before bed. I don't watch much but I do watch late and there are plenty of studies suggesting this affects quality of sleep.

Yea I was a late watcher as well...sleeping at 12 midnight was very common for me. It's addictive and gives me so much fun but at the same time, it became so huge I was not doing the things that I'm supposed to do. I'm cutting it by 90%...and tracking the results in this thread.

FamilyGuy

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #56 on: October 06, 2018, 09:36:36 PM »
Good work on the TV diet!  We don't watch a lot of TV, but I do spend too much time on the internet.  Most weeks my husband and I watch 1 movie or 2-3 episodes of a show, generally on Sunday night, and we do a movie with the kids on Saturday night.  The kids get about 20-30 minutes of TV or video games on weeknights while I cook dinner, then ~2hours in between when they get up on the weekend and when we wake up.  That's the bribe to stay quiet and let us sleep in.

However, outside of work, I typically spend about an hour a weeknight and 2-3 hours per weekend day online, and I feel I should cut that way down.  That's usually concurrent with my husband playing video games.  I started about a month ago by deleting Facebook from my cell phone.  It's helped, but that wasn't the only place I waste time online, and most of what I do really is wasting time.  I could stay up to date on everything that truly interests me in about 15-20 min every 2-3 days.  I just need to break suction and go read a book instead!   

I always wonder why reading a book (especially fiction) is better than watching TV...Today I sat down with a fiction book in the afternoon and my TV-addicted mind jumped and asked - why do you think she is better than me? - I had no answer. I closed the book and lied down.  I do see the point if it was a non-fiction self development book, but then I feel most of the self-help books are repeating the same stuff for years.

Michael in ABQ

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #57 on: October 07, 2018, 06:10:34 AM »
My wife and I generally watch 20-45 minutes of TV in bed to help us wind down at the end of the day and fall asleep. By TV I mean Netflix or Amazon. We cut the cord nearly a decade ago and never looked back. No commercials is great but when we had regular TV it was easy to just waste hours with it on in the background. Now we have to make a conscious decision about watching a particular show. 

Our three oldest boys rotate through getting to watch one show a day while their younger sister also gets to pick one show, so effectively as much as 45 minutes a day for them. Occasionally we'll watch a family movie or show but that's rare.

MicroRN

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #58 on: October 07, 2018, 07:50:15 AM »
I always wonder why reading a book (especially fiction) is better than watching TV...Today I sat down with a fiction book in the afternoon and my TV-addicted mind jumped and asked - why do you think she is better than me? - I had no answer. I closed the book and lied down.  I do see the point if it was a non-fiction self development book, but then I feel most of the self-help books are repeating the same stuff for years.

There's been a ton of research on reading vs TV, though most of it has been on children/adolescents and may not generalize as much to adults.  Similarly, a lot of it may be correlation, not causation, and these are studying small populations.  Still, various studies have shown that reading is associated with improved attention span, social behavior, imagination, and performance on executive function tests (mental control and self regulation) and TV is associated with poorer outcomes.  There's some evidence that TV reduces your willpower for controlling things like snacking on high-calorie foods, which may lead to the obesity associated with screen time.  Reading may be protective against dementia.  Even fiction requires you to think about what you're reading, imagine the scene, consider new words, think about situations.  Books invariably have a lot more plot and character development than a TV show does, and require more patience to get to the conclusion.   

This study found that TV watching vs reading was associated with lower verbal IQ over time - https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article/25/5/1188/311796

From the Atlantic, but has links -https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/07/more-evidence-reading-good-you/313575/

Impact of reading for pleasure - (literature review of a number of studies, though was commissioned by an agency to support the value of reading) - https://readingagency.org.uk/news/The%20Impact%20of%20Reading%20for%20Pleasure%20and%20Empowerment.pdf

For our family, I'm happy with our current level of TV watching.  We have one kid with ADHD, and that's about what he can handle without becoming very difficult.  More than that and we all get to deal with horrible tantrums.  (Screen time and ADHD - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3220824/).  We all enjoy reading for pleasure as well, and our 7 year old is halfway through the first Harry Potter book entirely on his own.

My n=1 - when I spend too much time watching TV or online, I start feeling tired and unmotivated.  Then I just sit on the computer/phone/TV for longer instead of doing what I need to, often refreshing social media.  Then I feel guilty for not getting up and going to do what I should.  I end up head-achey, not wanting to do anything, and angry at myself for wasting so much time.  When I read, I feel both relaxed and energized by it, and more motivated to go do actual things.  I'm actually implementing a 30 min timer method for myself to get me off the computer at a reasonable time, and I put my phone into power save mode for the weekend, which allows calls & texts but I can't use apps or surf the net.   

FamilyGuy

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #59 on: October 07, 2018, 07:54:15 PM »
That's great information @MicroRN

TV Diet Updates Day 4:
I had a weird feeling this morning today being Sunday & it's usually my lazy bum day. But I stuck to the plan. Watched less than 1.5 hours of Television only and it was during lunch and dinner.
1. Got up at 8:30. Prepared Ginger Cardamom Tea and had a long phone chat with my family.
2. Pantry organization. Now the time was 12:30
3. Roommate (new tenant) prepared chicken curry for lunch. Enjoyed it with a beer and some television.
4. A power nap and worked on Project 2 (Python Courses) and then some amount of self-thinking :)
5. Tea again and went for 30 minutes pleasant walk. (Haven't done this in months).
6. Back home and worked again on Project 2 - did some online exercises and youtube tutorials.
7. Dinner and some TV.
8. Typing this and then sleep time.

I'm very glad that my routine is changing and improved this much. Now the worry part is will I stick with this plan? Consistency has been a major problem for me - always. I would do a fantastic start and then fall deep into the past sh*t. I hope that won't be the case and that is why I'm writing my updates in this forum, more for a commitment & accountability factor.

Starting with this, I wanted to do multiple changes to my life. Next thing would be food and exercise. More to come & thanks for reading !!

FamilyGuy

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #60 on: October 08, 2018, 07:48:51 PM »
TV Diet Day 5:

Worked from home because my car is not getting repaired until tomorrow. My TV time was only 40 minutes today. Busy day with multiple meetings (via phone) but spent a lot of time in my project 2 ( python course) late afternoon. In fact, I've watched 4 hours 30 minutes of tutorial videos since yesterday. I feeling calm and have a no-rush feeling at everything. I had my dinner and came to my bedroom before 9 and ready to sleep. 

erutio

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #61 on: October 09, 2018, 12:14:29 PM »
Hey @FamilyGuy, I just wanted to say that you're doing great.  Love that you're checking in and updating us on your progress.  If you have a bad day, check in anyways, we'll keep  suporting ya!  Keep it up guy!

FamilyGuy

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #62 on: October 09, 2018, 07:40:54 PM »
Hey @FamilyGuy, I just wanted to say that you're doing great.  Love that you're checking in and updating us on your progress.  If you have a bad day, check in anyways, we'll keep  suporting ya!  Keep it up guy!

Thank you for the support @erutio

FamilyGuy

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #63 on: October 09, 2018, 07:46:42 PM »
Ok Day 6 updates of TV Diet:

TV time 40 minutes in total. (2 Netflix episodes)
Had to go to Car service center this morning and that pretty much took my AM.
Worked from home afternoon and spent some time on learning Python (but not very much).
Cooked Fish Briyani for dinner, little time-consuming dish, came out okay. That's it for today. I'm starting to feel sleepy right around 9 PM nowadays (though actually sleeping at 10:30). 

FamilyGuy

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #64 on: October 10, 2018, 07:22:45 PM »
Day 7 updates: (I'm starting to think I've wanted to create a journal to track this along with other changes that I'm doing in my life):

TV time today was 40 minutes only (like yesterday). For some reason, my day till noon was sick and moody. I don't know why. I didn't want to get up from my bed.  I was watching a lot of online news and tweets to follow on some sensational topic back in my home country. Afternoon was okay and had an hour long sleep in the evening which would have been a TV time. Anyways - unproductive day - but that's fine. That said, I'm starting another change/challenge from today - intermittent fasting - to lose the extra weight and keep my tummy in appropriate size.

ketchup

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #65 on: October 11, 2018, 08:15:13 AM »
Day 7 updates: (I'm starting to think I've wanted to create a journal to track this along with other changes that I'm doing in my life):

TV time today was 40 minutes only (like yesterday). For some reason, my day till noon was sick and moody. I don't know why. I didn't want to get up from my bed.  I was watching a lot of online news and tweets to follow on some sensational topic back in my home country. Afternoon was okay and had an hour long sleep in the evening which would have been a TV time. Anyways - unproductive day - but that's fine. That said, I'm starting another change/challenge from today - intermittent fasting - to lose the extra weight and keep my tummy in appropriate size.
I find this happens sometimes when I pay attention to "the news" too much.  Maybe try turning that down a bit too.  I find it's easier if you still read news, but only about things you specifically are interested in vs generic current events.  For me, that's "Oooh, SpaceX launched a thing" or "Intel's finally forced to compete with AMD again" or even "Nintendo announces Animal Crossing on Switch for 2019."

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #66 on: October 11, 2018, 08:44:44 AM »
I don't personally watch any TV. Our kids get to watch about 30 minutes before bed. It's usually a cooking show, or something in that vein. I read, or am busy doing chores.

I made a goal to cut TV out of my life, and fill the time with either reading and/or productive tasks. (No replacing with the computer, for example). I have no regrets. I sleep better, and I get more sleep, which is important with my health condition.

When I fly internationally, I watch movies, and feel like I'm brain dead after a certain point. I do catch up on all of the shows/movies people are talking about, but don't really enjoy it.

FamilyGuy

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #67 on: October 11, 2018, 09:14:55 AM »
Watching TV may be a bad thing, but I don't think reading this forum is much better for you.  Most people on this forum are lurkers; they are consuming but not creating any content.  But heck, even if you're a prolific contributor, I don't think spending 3-4 hours per day on this forum is that much better than passively watching 3-4 hours of TV/day.  Is the intellectual stimulation that acute?  And I mean, you are still basically sitting on your ass and typing. 

I watch 1-2 hours per day during the week, and 4-6 hours per day on the weekend.  I watch lots of sports.

I do not spend 3 to 4 hours every day on this forum or online news. Clearly, I do not want to replace TV with online or social media. I'm using most of the free time that I get out of not watching TV to work on some projects like learning new technology, checking off long-standing to do tasks. Yesterday was one of those days where you don't have the mood to do anything productive.

FamilyGuy

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #68 on: October 11, 2018, 09:10:39 PM »
Day 8 updates :
TV time 60 minutes. Was a little more than I planned.
Very good day. It was raining and enjoyed it every bit.
Did so some productive work and learned new things.
My mind is having a new level of clarity - more matured look on things.
I am going to start a journal soon. Also my second day of intermittent fasting today.

FamilyGuy

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #69 on: October 12, 2018, 09:26:58 PM »
Day 9 updates :
Tv time was 40 minutes. Feeling very good. I am spending the time on talking with friends, learning and taking rest. Today was a good day. This is also my 3rd day of intermittent fasting. There is a 1 lb weight loss as well :)

FamilyGuy

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #70 on: October 13, 2018, 10:55:06 PM »
Successful day 10 updates :)
I am losing interest to watch TV. The inside compulsion is fading out. I watched may be 60 minutes of television today. I used to watch 8 to 10 hours on weekends before. I did a lot of work today. Mostly cleaning and decluttering the home, laundry, ironing clothes needed for a week. Went out with a friend in the evening and had great conversation with family and friend. A very good day.

PoutineLover

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #71 on: October 14, 2018, 06:08:53 AM »
This thread is so nice and wholesome. I'm glad that you are replacing tv time with better activities. Sounds like a really positive change. Keep it up!

FamilyGuy

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #72 on: October 14, 2018, 11:13:04 AM »
@PoutineLover : Thank you :)

FamilyGuy

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #73 on: October 14, 2018, 11:15:06 AM »
Dear All: I realized the better place to track my updates on the TV diet is in the journals section. Below is the link. I'm grateful.

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/journals/sometimes-i-wish-life-had-subtitles/msg2169292/#msg2169292

Matz_70

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #74 on: October 14, 2018, 02:47:08 PM »
Great post and even better updates @FamilyGuy .

You mention clarity in your mind, and that was my initial thought when I read the OP.
To be clear about my finances, I need a clear mind. I can't have that when there is background noise.

I spend my evenings with:
- cycling home from work (the long way),
- preparing dinner (partner works later),
- actually sitting down together at dinner and talk (we play backgammon during the meals sometimes as well)
- some computer time (email, FB, learning about new things)

Weekends include:
- friends and family time
- making things in the kitchen
- gardening
- learning about new things

We don't have a TV, never had one in ages. We do own DVDs of TV shows and movies though and we watch them sometimes.

It's great to see your progress, I hope that your mind becomes so clear that you know what to be proud of at the end of each day.

WhiteTrashCash

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #75 on: October 14, 2018, 02:51:09 PM »
I just spent an hour watching "Better Call Saul" on Netflix and I'd say that was time well spent. World class writing, directing, and acting on that show. Most TV is worthless, though, like all those reality programs that folks seem to enjoy. That time would be better spent gardening or looking for investment opportunities.

FamilyGuy

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #76 on: October 14, 2018, 08:06:01 PM »
Great post and even better updates @FamilyGuy .

You mention clarity in your mind, and that was my initial thought when I read the OP.
To be clear about my finances, I need a clear mind. I can't have that when there is background noise.

I spend my evenings with:
- cycling home from work (the long way),
- preparing dinner (partner works later),
- actually sitting down together at dinner and talk (we play backgammon during the meals sometimes as well)
- some computer time (email, FB, learning about new things)

Weekends include:
- friends and family time
- making things in the kitchen
- gardening
- learning about new things

We don't have a TV, never had one in ages. We do own DVDs of TV shows and movies though and we watch them sometimes.

It's great to see your progress, I hope that your mind becomes so clear that you know what to be proud of at the end of each day.

Thank you @Matz_70.

hyperdelus

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #77 on: October 14, 2018, 10:27:03 PM »
In my opinion, watching TV is not a bad thing if you do it in a short period of time. If you're working at home-based job then you can do that during your break time. That's time for relax. But watching too much is a time waste, can't make you productive.

MandalayVA

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #78 on: October 15, 2018, 04:59:13 AM »
I generally just watch sports, but unlike back in the day during NFL season my ass isn't indenting the couch for twelve hours straight on Sundays.  Yesterday I watched about a quarter of the Bengals/Steelers game and a quarter of the Jacksonville/Dallas game during dinner.  Otherwise, we listen to classical music while we eat because we're cultured AF.

Parton

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #79 on: October 25, 2018, 11:47:40 PM »
If you are watching TV, then you have a lot of free time. I simply have neither the strength nor the time. Work, housework, go for a walk with friends - so I don’t even need it.

foobaz

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Re: Why watching TV is a bad thing? How many hours you watch per day?
« Reply #80 on: October 26, 2018, 10:01:55 PM »
I watch about an hour or two of TV every couple days. Feels good at the time, but I always go to sleep feeling unproductive.