stop watching television

This is my goal and I will begin tomorrow! Here’s to staying strong

It’s just that my family is constantly watching television which makes this goal incredibly difficult. I was doing good for a day but today was a total sap and watched a boat load of television. I feel like losing weight or at least not mindlessly eating and not watching television are inextricably linked for my lifestyle. I don’t want to be unhealthy and binge eat while watching tv so I am NOT watching television ever again.

I was doing well, but I strayed from my goal for three hours until I realized it wasn’t time well spent.

I’m back on plan though. I’m cleaning my room, really cleaning it this time. Junk mail from as many as 6 years ago is being sifted through to get personal info shredded, random notes, etc. Gotta Organize my comic books as well, lol.

This is already 1 1/2 days that I’ve strayed away from t.v.

Have more time on my hands!

It’s been 3 hours since I last watched television.

Going to be 24 years old this year.

Haven’t accomplished anything in life so far.

I would watch almost 40 hours of t.v. a week or more.

It’s keeping me from my goals in life, it’s keeping me from life in general.

so I figured I should be more specific on how I plan to achieve this goal. I look at the amount of time I sit in front of the television and disappointed. It’s not that I’m unwilling to kick back and relax a little with a show now and then, it’s just that I always seem to surf over to another show once the one that I was watching is over. And spend twice as much time as initially planned on veggin’ in front of the tv.
my solution is simple. make my own pvr (i refuse to pay for tivo when I can get the same features for free) and then record shows that I want. That way I can still get my jeopardy fix, but without the option to watch unwanted programming afterwards. Also I want the freedom to schedule my tv time when it’s convenient for me and not be a slave to the cable companys schedule.
once I have my pvr up and running I’ll trash my tv and post how this works for me.

It’s not just television, it’s an addiction to entertainment. There are times when it is good to be entertained, but it should not become a need. When it becomes a need, it is like any other drug. I’m at the stage where I’ve recognized the problem and I’m not sure what to do (short of “watchers anonymous”). I’ve found I can squash the urge to veg temporarily, but then the compulsion comes back doubly hard. It is clear that I really haven’t made any headway toward kicking the habit.

How do I do this when there are legitimately entertaining shows on TV? So many smart shows… it’s the stupid ones that make me want to quit, but the smart ones that make me think draw me in… AH!

I hate the idea of all that wasted time where I’m not even using my brain. I could be using my brain and doing something more worthwhile, like knitting, reading, writing, talking to a friend, going for a walk, playing the piano, or any number of other things! People think watching TV is the same as reading a book. They are both about fictional characters and are entertaining. But with a book I have to read, and think, and interpret what I’m reading, and imagine the characters and settings with my mind. It’s way more work than staring at the television.

Plus, I could easily throw away an hour zoning out watching TV. But what if I used that hour more constructively? Sometimes I think about this goal and I think about how everyone follows their TV shows week to week and talk about them with friends. I think, I’ll be left out or be missing out on something really cool by not watching TV! But then I think about all the cool things I will be doing INSTEAD of watching TV, things my friends will be missing out on!

TV isn’t evil or anything, I just think my life will improve if I stop watching it! Good luck to everyone else who is trying this out.

I’ve stopped the aimless lazing on the couch watching whatever’s on.

All I watch nowadays are:
-the odd DVD about once a week
-particularly interesting programmes. [...like the Olympic opening ceremony. Come on, I had to watch that]