Life without TV

A fated spring day in 2005 our TV stopped working.

P and I took it as a sign of sorts, and agreed on not buying another.

I can honestly say that it has been one of the best decisions taken in my life.

I never really spent much time thinking about the decisions I've taken in life and how they rank towards one and other, but now writing this, I can easily say that deciding to live without TV is among the top 10 best decisions, together with perhaps studying in the States, moving to London, changing my diet and moving to Brazil.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand: Life without TV

Living life without TV gave me a minimum of 3 hours extra per week, but to be more realistic an extra 8-10 hours or at times much more per week. And I say extra, because watching TV is dead time. It is time that you can spend doing things that is good for you, or give you something in return.

Time better spent improving your life; playing, learning, talking with friends and family, exercising, taking up a new hobby or just laying on the couch daydreaming etc.

I have spent much of my years without TV on learning. I discovered the real pleasure of studying and retaining information; Here are some of the things I have learnt/done/discovered/rediscovered:

• I have learnt a lot about myself
• Food and nutrition
• The body 
• Health
• The mind
• NLP and though processes
• Behavioural psychology
• Emotions
• History and alternative history
• Society and it workings
• Politics
• EU
• Economics and the banking system
• The guitar (still rather recent)
• The pleasure of writing
• The joy of singing
• Personal development
• Permaculture 
• The pleasure of photography

and much much more, at the same time I have had the pleasure to have had many exciting conversations with amazing people, enjoyed myself in nature, read great books (facts and fiction) and partied with my hair down!

People often say how they don't have time doing things, although they always seem to find time for TV, it is very contradictory, not to have enough time, but time enough to sit down to do nothing....

Let me introduce you to the TV, and some of its negative effects:

• It causes stress in the body.
• It removes your logical thinking
• It takes your energy (as any electrical thing it emits positive electrons)
• It is bad for your eyesight
• It causes violence
• It causes envy
• It creates fear
• It gets inside your mind
• It feeds materialism
• It sells/advertises harmful products
• It creates opinion - but whom's?
• It's creating unhealthy cultures
• It controls you
• It causes addictions
• It takes your attention away
• It kills conversation
• It feeds boredom
• It causes dissatisfaction

For children it is even worse, but still, for an adult, it is seriously damaging.

This is what I have to say about some of the more common TV-shows

News; Only gives you fear, and it doesn't matter how you look upon it, it is never objective.

Sports; Do it yourself, don't watch other people do it, and don't take pride in other peoples achievements, go out and achieve yourself.

Entertainment; Well what to say, if you want to be entertained, read a book or get a film, or do something to entertain yourself, or ask yourself, why is my life so boring, that I need to seek entertainment from a sitcom? if there is something you really want to watch, well get the DVD or see it on the Internet as there are some gems out there.

Soaps; It is trash, I don't care what you think, it is utter hogwash.

Reality shows; There is nothing real about them, if you want reality, switch the TV off and live. Your life is the realest (most real) thing you will ever get. it doesn't get more real than your own life.

TV is one of the cornerstones of today's unhealthy society, moreover, it is on of the prime enslavement tools over the population. It sedates, and creates indifference - it is a breeder of apathy.

Try a week without TV and see if you can manage, as it is addictive, even to the extent that it can cause physical addiction. See how strong you are and do a week, then a month. You will not only feel better, but you will get more done, you will sleep better, and you will have more time, and in a society where we say time is money, that must be worth something.

Time to wake up people, look outside, or look within yourselves, but don't look to the TV.

Much Love