Treasures From the ETR Archives: Why You Should Throw Out Your TV
March 15, 2007
One of my goals when writing for ETR is to help my readers reach all their professional and personal goals. To help celebrate ETR's upcoming Issue #2000, I'm reprinting some of the most useful business and life lessons I've written about so far. To read each full article, click the link embedded in the text.
"I don't deny that TV can make you laugh and cry. I don't deny that it can inform you. The problem with TV is that while you are laughing, crying, and learning, you are also losing energy, losing mental sharpness, and losing the natural inclination to be active. Watch any TV show and afterwards you are somehow duller, less energetic, less acute. Your mind has lost its acuity. Your spirit is down. Even your body is worse off - a little stiffer, a little more tired.
"Yes, we all need relaxation. But you'll do better - by far - with yoga or meditation or by taking a walk than you will by watching TV."
* * * * *
"I've been watching, while stairclimbing, a BBC series on wine. It's very enjoyable and seems instructive. But since I make notes directly after watching each program, I get to see just how informative it really is.
"It's amazing. A half-hour segment might - might - give me three bits of useful information.
"It doesn't feel that cheap when I'm watching it, but that's because so much of what I'm viewing - the interesting scenic shots, the gripping little conversations - is illustrative but not instructive.
"I haven't seen studies on watching TV as compared to reading, but I'll bet you can learn four to 10 times more in a half-hour of reading than you can watching television."
* * * * *
"It's easy to trick your brain into producing alpha or theta waves. Just switch on the television.
"But realize that you're also training your brain to operate at what is, essentially, a lower frequency. And research proves that people who produce an excess of alpha or theta waves - from head-injury patients to plain old slackers - have consistently weaker powers of concentration. On the other hand, those who have a great sense of focus also have a much higher ratio of beta brain waves."
posted by M. Masterson @ 8:50 AM,
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