How To Deal With Television Addiction?

Thursday, March 4, 2010, 12:06

"At a very young age I was trained to worship TV. My day began with a click of the remote and ended after the whole wide world had hid under dark blankets and I just crept into the dreamworld to fantasize myself with the TV characters." How many belong to this category? Before the idiot box makes your life a small wonder room, brake out, it's time to unbind from an addiction that can hamper your daily life.

A research states that television sneakily manipulates the mental state of the addicted person. It places an individual into a hypnotic

state of relaxation. Press the remote button and you are lulled into a pleasant condition of numbness. Once you are caught in its web, it's difficult to unbind from it. Thus killing your social and family life. Only fair bit of willpower to force yourself to get up, go and do something more worthwhile, will help to get rid of it.

Effects of Television addiction

Below are some of the effects of television addiction,

Spending a great deal of time watching television.

Giving up important family, social or occupational activities, to use it.

Making repeated and unsuccessful attempt to cut back from the addiction.

Habitual television watching, over long periods of time, has been known to cause, in some people, a lack of motivation and feelings of listlessness, depression, and anger.

Watch TV out of habit and not out of interest.

Poor diet, exercise and reading habits.

Frequent feelings of boredom.

Change channels continuously.

Television Addiction - How to Avoid It

Start keeping a record of time that you spent on watching TV for a week.

Make a big card sheet with the title 'the fun activities'. List on the chart all the fun activities you can do at home instead of watching TV. Paste it on the wall above the TV, or on your refrigerator, so that you can check the list before turning on the TV.

Commit to exercising whenever you watch TV.

Make arrangements to do something with the entire family. It can be a household project you would like to complete, painting house, or some interior decoration at the hour of your most favorite TV show.

Set a limit for how much TV you will watch in a day. Reduce the hours at least by some 15 minutes everyday. Record your time and stick to your commitment.

Unplug your cable connection for a set period of time.

Television, is an entertainment box that can teach and amuse. It does provide needed distraction and escape from the daily strife. The difficulty arises when it become the only part of your life sidetracking all the fun and amusement you should gather from the people around you.