The Un-TV Experiment

Staring at a blank TV screen is not fun. It's not exciting or enjoyable whatsoever. Sitting there staring at nothing was sadly one of the most difficult tasks I've had to do recently. It was hard to keep my eyes on the screen, since nothing was happening. It was also extremely difficult not to grab my computer or phone for relief. Just thirty minutes of silence. Sure, I got some peaceful thinking in. But that took all of five minutes. I was just counting down the minutes until I could stop looking at the TV and go to sleep. But staring at the TV made me realize that when we watch TV, we're essentially doing the exact same thing. There's just sound and movement in front of us. It's almost scary how much attention we give our televisions. They're our source for everything. They shape our culture by what we end up watching. We want to be like people on TV. It makes me wonder what we would be like without having grown up watching all these shows. We would have to come up with ways to act and dress all on our own. We would, in reality, be our own people, our true selves. Sure, there are always going to be influences. But there would be so much less pressure. Also, I just feel better when I don't turn on the TV for a day or two. It gives me time to do other things, like sleep, that are way more important. I truly believe our society would be greatly improved if we put so much less emphasis on the television. But seeing as there's another season of Jersey Shore, it won't happen anytime soon.