turn off the tv week

April 24-30 is the official TV Turn Off Week! I've been TV-free for more than six years, along with my co-authors Bert, Eric, and Beth, and none of us will ever go back.

Imagine what you might do with that time? It's usually a misperception that one is too tired to do anything but television, but many people have to lose electricity or have their TV break before they realize that. [Many researchers claim that people don't watch television because they're too tired to have sex, but rather become too tired to have sex because of television.]

For Turn Off Week, I don't think it's cheating too much if you, say, download a show from iTunes and watch it on your computer while you're waiting for something to render... ; )

Or, get your movie fix by going to a theater. It's a different thing (at least according to film critic Roger Ebert--not an expert on the brain!) who refers to it as something like, Television has a passive hypnotic effect, but watching a film at the theater is absorbing--you are completely engaged. But many of us intuitively feel this--when you finish watching television, you usually feel even more tired. When you finish watching a film, you often feel at least mentally energized--wanting to think and/or talk about it. (There are several different explanations for the difference, including the technology of non-digital film projection vs. television, the environment, the mindfullness, etc.]

I won't repeat everything I said in my earlier post Kill the TV, Keep the Shows, but a few of the quotes from the Scientific American Mind piece on television addiction include:

"Most of the criteria of substance dependence can apply to people who watch a lot of TV."

"...University of British Columbia studied a mountain community that had no television until cable finally arrived. Over time, both adults and children in the town became less creative in problem solving, less able to persevere at tasks, and less tolerant of unstructured time."

"To some researchers, the most convincing parallel between TV and addictive drugs is that people experience withdrawal symptoms when they cut back on viewing."

"Even researchers who study TV for a living marvel at the medium's hold on them personally. Percy Tannenbaum of the University of California at Berkeley has written: 'Among life's more embarrassing moments have been countless occasions when I am engaged in conversation in a room while a TV set is on, and I cannot for the life of me stop from periodically glancing over to the screen.'"

At the Conference on World Affairs, Dr. Thomas Lewis, who I referenced in the Why face to face still matters post, talked at length about how drops in social and community involvement track closely with the arrival of cable to an area with no TV reception (most heavily documented in the Canadian studies mentioned earlier). He mentioned scenarios where a community loses power for several days in a row, cutting off their nightly TV ritual, and they suddenly get to know their neighbors for the first time. (Other factors are at work there as well, but it's not that hard to imagine that the lack of TV played a role.)

Throwing out my television has made a greater difference in my life than anything else I've ever done. But again, I recognize that there are some people who have the discipline to watch only very specific programs, using time-shifting to skip ads and news promos, as opposed to saying, "Let's see what's on TV..." For me, I found television to be too much of an event horizon; the only way for me to break free was to get rid of it completely. Of course, getting rid of TV just means I have more time to obsessively check my email.

So, is there anyone here who isn't already diligent with their Tivo, who is willing to disable the TV tuner (unplug cable/antennas, etc.) for a week and watch DVDs or shows on the computer? (Under the assumption that for most, viewing habits change dramatically when you shift from having television available 24-7 vs. watching specific shows--as mindful choices--on a computer.)
Note: If you have kids who might really struggle with this, there are more resources on how to do this at tvturnoff.org.

Be sure to stock up on Sudokus. Although... I think those evil little number puzzles are far more addicting than TV. That said, they're better for your brain and don't do that whole "orienting response" described in the article I referenced:
"The effects of the orienting response include dilation of the blood vessels to the brain, slowing of the heart, constricting of the blood vessels to major muscle groups, blockage of alpha waves to the brain for a few seconds, etc."