SubscribeWant to be Happy? Don’t Watch TV
Are you happy? According to a news report by New York Times, Reuters, if you are happy, then you’re not watching much TV. It was stated in the report that happy people spend a lot of time socialising, going to church and reading newspaper - but they do not spend a lot of time watching television.
The first time when I read the report, I couldn’t have agreed more with it; the economy many months back was still sluggish and not showing any signs of recovery. If you were stuck to the TV, you would have gotten constant waves of negative news directing at you. Have it gotten any better now? Maybe. At least the economy is showing signs of a slow recovery and hopefully it will continue this way.
Sad to say that news of the economy is only the tip of the iceberg of negative news. We constantly received news of people in suicide bombings; killing themselves and others in the process. There were also news of natural disasters all over the world - taking lives of some and making a lot others homeless overnight. What else comes into your mind? I would leave it to you to fill in the blanks. I guess you have gotten my idea on how depressive watching the news can be … especially when one is focusing on all the bad news.
A study by University of Maryland, by analyzing 34 years of data collected from more than 45,000 participants, shown that unhappy people spend 30% more time in front of TV than happy people. Could you imagine that? I like to watch movies, and informative shows or documentaries on TV. However, any time the opportunities come up to catch up with friends for coffee, I will readily give up the square box.
Engaging in TV is so easy especially for people who don’t like to socialise or may not have much resources to do it. For TV, they just need to turn on the set and they can indulge themselves in hours of inexpensive and passive self entertainment.
So what does happy people do? Researchers found that activities such as sex, reading and socialising correlated with the highest levels of overall happiness. According to the co-author of the study, Dr John Robinson, “We looked at eight to 10 activities that happy people engage in, and for each one, the people who did the activities more - visiting others, going to church, all those things - were more happy.” Can you relate to that? I certainly can.
The study further states that unhappily married couples also watch more TV. And what do happily married couples do? They engage in 30 per cent more sex (yes, that caught your attention, didn’t it?), and they attend religious services more, and read newspapers on more days. I believe for happily married couples, you need to spend more quality time together on engaging activities rather than passive entertainment on the TV.
According to the study, watching TV had a direct correlation with unhappiness. However, I believe that watching TV can be quality time spent too; you choose the right programs to watch and focus on the positive. There are things and values which we can learn from watching TV too. Are you happy? Then most probably you’re not watching much TV. What activities do you engage in that make you happy?
Photo by benipop
by Rondi, on September 11 2009 @ 8:01 pm
I would have to agree–I have often heard people say they do not watch the news because it is so depressing. I enjoy reading more than watching TV.
Rondi´s last blog ..Contest-Win 3000 EC Credits & Ad Space
by eastcoastlife, on September 11 2009 @ 9:18 pm
I watch documentaries and the news mostly, I get lots of info from TV programmee.
eastcoastlife´s last blog ..Execution by Electric Chair - PhotoHunt
by Symphony of Love, on September 12 2009 @ 3:48 am
@ Rondi, yes, I have heard the same remarks too. Personally, I like reading too. Books are very good nutrition for the brain.
@ ECL, I have to agree with you; we can get quite a lot of information from TV programs.
by VanillaSeven, on September 12 2009 @ 7:13 am
I have been living without TV for more than 10 years, and I don’t missed a thing. My life still very busy, happy and fruitful. For me, TV really drained my time away.
VanillaSeven´s last blog ..Sunrise at Mt Kinabalu
by lina, on September 12 2009 @ 8:13 am
I don’t watch much news because I find it irritating not so much depressing because of the political climate in Malaysia and TV stations tend to suck up to the ruling party. So, I’m rather clueless about the local news. But I do read newspapers!
I guess when a couple watches too much TV, it hinder their communication. And enjoying each other’s company instead of the idiot box.
lina´s last blog ..New Haircuts For Us
by lina, on September 12 2009 @ 8:20 am
but that said, I know so much about the world by couch travelling, in front of the TV
lina´s last blog ..New Haircuts For Us
by Symphony of Love, on September 12 2009 @ 9:53 am
@ VanillaSeven, it is good that you can survive for so long without TV. I guess you have been busy traveling around the world.
@ Lina, I guess I may understand what you mean on the political situation. Watching TV may indeed hinder communication since usually people may be expected to watch in silence. And you are right that we do get to ‘travel’ around the world through TV. Although we don’t get to go on the actual trip, it is not so bad to see the world through TV. However, I believe that you’ll agree with me that nothing beats the actual trip.
by baterya, on September 13 2009 @ 1:27 am
wooo i do not watch tv… not until now.. hmm make sense hehehe…. this is nice info
by sandy, on September 13 2009 @ 10:12 am
Hubby and I watch very little TV. He watches sports, but that’s not really passive…he get’s into it. We have about 3 shows we watch together. We are very happy, read our news on line and avoid TV news the bulk of the time.
I knit and crochet, we work in the yard together, we take walks together, we chat about what we each read on the net, and sometimes just spend time talking about each other’s day.
Most of our friends get irritated with us, say we’re being elitist when we say we don’t watch much TV. I’m always amazed they can spend that much time watching, there’s so much stupid tv on.
Sandy
sandy´s last blog ..Danie Boone, St. Charles County, Missouri
by Symphony of Love, on September 13 2009 @ 11:07 pm
@ Baterya, thank you.
@ Sandy, thank you for sharing. I couldn’t agree with you more that there are some really stupid programs on TV; at time I asked myself, why are these shows being produced in the first place. I love the part where you mentioned about you and your husband working in the yard and taking walks together. This is what I would picture myself doing with my partner too.
by Shinade aka Jackie, on September 14 2009 @ 3:23 pm
I love my t.v.! However, for a while I did get hooked on CNN and found myself slipping into a depressive state.
Everything just seem so negative. Now I am not going to tell you that I don;t still love my t.v. because I do.
But, unless it’s after 1 or 2 am in the morning I never have time to watch it anymore.
Also my youngest daughter, the mother of our 4 grandsons has always limited them to 1 hour a day their entire of t.v.
Now even the 12 and 16 year old given their choice of what to do during free time will opt for reading or sports every time.
I have to give it to her she really knew what she was doing when she started them out from the very first day with limited or no t.v.
I hope you had a great day BK!
Jackie:-)
Shinade aka Jackie´s last blog ..MM Sunday-Shinade Acres-A Charmed Life
by Brenda, on September 14 2009 @ 4:39 pm
I gave up all TV watching for quite a while and found myself with lots of time for other things like blogging and reading. Now I watch very selectively and I am definitely happier the less I watch. I also select only fun or positive programs. Thanks for this lovely article.
Brenda´s last blog ..Is Becoming an Entrepreneur Only About Money?
by Symphony of Love, on September 14 2009 @ 5:59 pm
@ Jackie, I applaud what your daughter did; she sure bought them up well. I would rather have my children playing sports or reading too. There is really a need to start from young. And I must say that you brought up your daughter well too.
@ Brenda, I am also selective on what I watch. Since the mind is our greatest asset, we must guard it at all time.
by Tina T, on September 15 2009 @ 5:44 am
I definitely agree with this study. Most of the stuff on TV is depressing or just mindless. When we spend too much time with any technology we miss out on time with real live people, which is a sad statement about the effect that technology has on most people’s personal lives.
Tina T´s last blog ..How Much Should You Change for Love?
by Rudy, on September 15 2009 @ 3:55 pm
Now day media expose news extremely without limitation. That depend on our awareness to choose which one is the best for us to consume.
Rudy´s last blog ..# 20 Things I’m Glad Life Taught Me
by Mikko Kemppe - Relationship Coach, on September 15 2009 @ 3:57 pm
I agree. I have not had a TV for the last 6 years. I only read books or follow important events on the Internet. I think it is more important today than ever to guard our minds from all of the negativity out there in the world. And for movies, I recommend spiritual cinema. Thanks for the article!
Mikko Kemppe - Relationship Coach´s last blog ..He Is Just Not That Into You, Or Is He?
by Symphony of Love, on September 15 2009 @ 5:08 pm
@ Tina, with so many productions out there vying for part of the big pie, it’s no wonder to see so many mindless or depressing stuffs on TV. Like it or not, mindless or depressing stuffs have a way of locking attentions. It is sometime quite sad; to think that technology is supposed to be innovated to help us, but many times it created a wide gap between individuals.
@ Rudy, indeed, we have to be more aware of what we choose to watch, just as food, we have to choose food that is good for us.
@ Mikko, indeed, our minds are truly the greatest possession that we may own; we have to guard it constantly to prevent corruption to it.
by Sasha, on September 16 2009 @ 1:17 am
I agree. Plus, you know, people (esp. teens) these days get so much insecurities because of what they see on TV. Maybe that’s why there’s too much depression among people now. They should do a study on this.
Great post, BK!
Sasha´s last blog ..Share some love…
by Symphony of Love, on September 16 2009 @ 2:25 am
@ Sasha, when I was younger, I did spend quite some time on TV watching cartoons. But if I am to spend so much time on the TV now, I will be missing out a lot in other activities like reading, socialising with family and friends.
by Shinade aka Jackie, on September 16 2009 @ 10:36 am
I am so trying to fight it off this afternoon but it’s raining again and all I want to do is play zombie in front of the t.v. today!!
Shame on me!!
Jackie:-)
Shinade aka Jackie´s last blog ..Shinade Does Water Color
by Symphony of Love, on September 16 2009 @ 6:11 pm
@ Jackie, may the ‘zombie’ choose the right program to watch.
by Viel, on September 16 2009 @ 10:56 pm
i agree. i just watch my favorite tv food series on my computer. lol!
by John | English Wilderness, on September 16 2009 @ 11:51 pm
I rarely watch TV. Most of the programs are junk
Occasionally I’ll watch a nature program or something about a cave or mountain, but I think the TV is better left off!
John | English Wilderness´s last blog ..Garden Spider and Prey
by Symphony of Love, on September 17 2009 @ 5:46 am
@ Viel, I like to watch programs about food too.
@ John, it is a blessing to us that you are not watching much of the TV; else we wouldn’t be seeing so many spectacular shots at your website.
by Tiffany @ E101, on September 17 2009 @ 10:38 am
I don’t think TV is entirely to blame. I think it’s more the fact that unhappy people just happen to watch TV more because they’re not doing enough with their lives.
by Symphony of Love, on September 17 2009 @ 4:33 pm
@ Tiffany, I agree with you that TV is not to be blamed entirely; since we can choose what we watch. And in the report, it didn’t mention much about the content. As it stated, some people are unhappy because they have been spending too much time on TV and this has affected their lives in other areas. Due to watching too much TV, they are spending less time on activities that are beneficial to them in the long term; activities like spending quality time with family, socialising with friends, exercising, reading etc.
by The Hawg!, on September 18 2009 @ 6:18 am
That’s bad news for me — I’m a total TV casualty and just bought a bigger one so I can become more addicted.
Not good. Not good at all!
The Hawg!´s last blog ..Tell Me Thursday – Michael’s broken arm
by Shinade aka Jackie, on September 18 2009 @ 2:51 pm
Hey BK! I simply can’t let the week end without popping in to wish you all a great weekend!!
Jackie:-)
Shinade aka Jackie´s last blog ..The Bud
by star, on September 18 2009 @ 4:29 pm
I am very much happy to gave my time to my kids rather to watch TV for almost 3 hours. Maybe that’s a reason why my kids enjoyed a lot when we are playing, dancing and talking. Have a nice day BK!!
by Symphony of Love, on September 18 2009 @ 5:06 pm
@ The Hawg, haha, TV just gets bigger and bigger. Be selective in what we watch and it shouldn’t be too bad.
@ Jackie, thank you, have a great weekend too.
@ Star, I’m sure spending time with your kids are anytime better than watching the TV.
by Penny, on September 20 2009 @ 9:41 am
I agree with you, that TV can be time well spent if you choose the right things. I made the decision a while ago that I just don’t want to watch or read the news. It honestly made me too scared of things. I still think I need to watch less TV, but at least I am a lot happier since I stopped watching the news.
Penny´s last blog ..A Safe Distance
by Symphony of Love, on September 20 2009 @ 4:50 pm
@ Penny, choose the programs wisely and you will be better off. I missed an important point from the report: instead of watching TV, people who are happier are doing more of socialising, reading than watching TV.