I just ran downstairs to grab a little bedtime snack. Michele was awake again and, of course, the TV is back on. I sat at the kitchen table to eat my snack and had to force myself not to look at the TV. I read a magazine we picked up today at one of the lakes in Michigan but it wasn't very exciting. Just the noise alone from the TV seemed to really annoy me and make me feel anxious.
Michele started going off about the teen kidnapping case in Aruba and telling me all the latest updates about how the media screwed up the story and gave false information. I tried to act interested, but I just can't get as fired up about it as she does. Don't get me wrong, I think it is tragic that this beautiful teen girl was kidnapped and possibly murdered. I totally feel terrible for her family and friends who have to live with the pain. But tell me something... What good will it do me to sit and watch the events unfold on the nightly news??? Does it change my life in any way? Does it bring the person back? Does it make the family's pain go away? NO! It does absolutely no good, and probably does a ton of harm, to sit and watch mindlessly as the media pounds hour after hour of negativity into my brain.
I let Michele finish ranting and she finally settled back into the couch for what will, no doubt, be at least a couple more hours of viewing time for her.
Instead of giving in to the lure of the TV, I tried to think of something else I could do. Sadly, I couldn't think of anything, so I just came back up here to post another blog entry.
Is spending so much time on the computer really that much better than watching TV?? Personally, I think it is because at least I'm thinking, learning, interacting, trying to help others, and hopefully improving my own life just a little in the process.
G'night...
1 comment:
>What good will it do me to sit and watch the events unfold on the nightly news??? Does it change my life in any way? Does it bring the person back? Does it make the family's pain go away? NO!
You're dead-on about that, Dave. I stopped watching most TV news over 20 years ago (not intentionally, but with my first child, there just wasn't any time). And after awhile, I realized how much that constant diet of fire, flood, violence, and death had been dragging me down emotionally. In the vast majority of those situations, there was little or nothing I could do. Like you said, this doesn't mean that I don't care. But the daily litany had given me a compassion fatigue that I didn't even know I had, and that was helping absolutely no one. I still have lots of problems with my TV addiction, but I'm grateful that my desire to watch television news has never returned.
>Is spending so much time on the computer really that much better than watching TV?? Personally, I think it is because at least I'm thinking, learning, interacting, trying to help others, and hopefully improving my own life just a little in the process.
I do think they're different. I can't say whether computer addiction is any better; I guess that depends on the person and exactly how they use TV vs. computer. But you're right, the crucial difference is that the computer is interactive, and almost always demands more active attention.
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