We don’t need no television
It’s no revolutionary thought, but it struck
me again last week just how bad television is. I’m not talking about the
quality of the acting or the reused plotlines, I’m talking about the way it
crushes my soul and dulls my mind. I have always said/thought that I watched tv
to relax and let my mind rest, thinking that my mind can, and needs to, switch
off from time to time. However, it is not so much resting my mind, as it is
removing it’s ability to do anything.
It eats up my time, as I sit here staring
blankly without a thought. I’m rarely loving it, and it’s never improving my
life, but I still can’t seem to make myself get up and turn it off. Why does it
have this power of me? Over us, because I know I’m not alone. Lots of my
friends have expressed staying up way too late.
And it’s dulling my mind.
And it’s shrinking my thoughts.
And it’s shaping my mind.
And it’s streaming their will.
How has this happened? How is it that a
system has been set up, and the culture established that we so happily consume
what they pump into our houses everyday with very little concern for the depth
or breath of the content. It is a well known concept that you get out what you
put in; you are what you eat. So then why do we so openly let someone else
choose our mindfood. What they show is what we consume, and what we consume is what we will
mirror. And I don’t want to mirror that.
But it’s hard to catch. There is not always
anything particularly wrong with what is on television. It’s not all smut and
violence and crime (although a lot of it is), but it’s the more subtle themes
that are worrying me. The world already has a loud enough voice in my ear telling
me it’s all about my look, my cloths, my car, my lifestyle as reflected in my
things, and my friends and our wealth. Why do I give this voice another access
point?
If the thoughts that I am putting into my
brain will become the framework around which I build my mind, I had better
start using some better materials, or before long I will not even realize I’ve
got nothing of my own.
Posts
2 comments:
I think this is a slight tangent from your main point... TV is not designed to entertain or benefit/inspire us as its #1 goal, it is designed to keep us coming back time and time again so that they can sustain their business model - keep selling us ads. The same argument is google's (And soon to be facebook's) weakness, where the quality of the service is the secondary goal.
I don't watch tv, except for top gear, but that is pretty mindless stuff with the same problems you mentioned - I do not want to mirror jeremy clarkson. Generally we watch those competition shows (australia's got talent, factor, masterchef, the block etc) tv during dinner, which I really dislike.
I tried switching to TED talks for a while; that was mentally stimulating, and made for good conversations. You could even do the same thing with NOOMAs, but that might be a bit intense to do every day.
I'm house sitting this week. Going to try to get through with no TV or news at all.
That's a good point, adds are the product, not the shows.
Post a Comment