Tuning Out: Turning off the Television

By Amanda McFarlan

In Christian circles, we talk about how modern consumer culture is a distraction from what really matters in life. We may debate exactly how we define a more genuine life, with varying emphases on spirituality, family, self-discovery, etc..., but we’re all pretty sure we won’t find the right answer in a Nike commercial.

I’ve had the opportunity over the last two years to reassess one of the most prevalent aspects of Western consumer culture. I’ve watched relatively little television in my life, and for the last two years I’ve watched almost no television. And yet, several years ago, I also found myself dating and eventually living with a television producer. Aside from the obvious need not to confess my peculiar aversion to television at my new partner’s industry parties, I’ve had an opportunity to reflect again on why I have chosen, consciously, deliberately, to tune out. Because I don’t watch television, once my kids are settled in bed, I have time to do things for my church, have friends over, cook (or more accurately watch my partner cook). I’m not completely unplugged, I spend entire evenings devouring magazines, books and newspapers. I listen to concerts on the radio or to my favorite CD’s. This is a lifestyle that feels more genuine to me, perhaps because I am setting the priorities, instead of asking ‘what’s on’- that is, begging corporate culture to entertain me.

One of the costs of being "entertained" by television is enduring the commercials. Television shows are structured so that there can be five or six commercial breaks per hour. Those commercials will be louder and flashier than the show you are watching. Indeed, in economic terms, they are why you are watching the show. The amount of time devoted to commercials in each television hour keeps rising. Shows that were 52 minutes long in the eighties were 47 minutes in the nineties, and this year are made 46 minutes long. Commercials keep taking more time, leading programmers to chop up their shows into smaller chunks to accommodate the ads. Shows were once made with three breaks for commercials, now there are five. If you feel jumpy watching television, it’s not an illusion. Television is about interruption - a kind of informal Attention Deficit Disorder training for everyone.

Commercials also decisively shape the content of the shows you are watching. Some topics are difficult to touch. This is particularly true with regards to truly controversial political issues, and for virtually all environmental questions. My partner once worked on a series where they wanted to do a show on global warming. The American broadcaster suggested that the program be dropped because it would upset the car and gas companies who paid for the commercials. So it was dropped. Just to put this is perspective: scientists are now arguing that we are in the midst of the worst extinction event since the death of dinosaurs. Given the scale of the calamity, we should be in full crisis mode, on television and off. The reality is that there are very few programs on about it, particularly on specialty channels like Discovery and TLC. This isn’t likely to change any time soon.

So television can’t be seen as just another medium trying to help us understand the world around us. Since there is so much money at stake, there are vast areas of subject matter which are off-limits, most of the time. This is not as true of magazines. In two hours I can read a greater diversity of opinion in print that I would encounter in weeks of television watching. Television seems much more like the Matrix - we plug into an experience that we are told is reality, but which is in fact a highly censored dream world. And, like the Matrix, the greatest crime is to unplug yourself and wake up.

Some of the other costs of television watching were outlined in a recent article, (Scientific American: Television Addiction Is No Mere Metaphor) In the industrialized world, on average, individuals devote three hours a day to television. That’s half their leisure time and more than any single activity except for work and sleep. Studies of people’s reactions to watching television indicate that people feel more relaxed and passive when watching television. In fact, EEG studies show less mental stimulation during television viewing than reading. What I found most curious about these studies was that the sense of relaxation ends when the television is turned off, but "the feelings of passivity and lowered alertness continue." Study participants say they "have more difficulty concentrating after viewing, than before, in contrast they rarely indicate such difficulty after reading". People report improvements in their mood after playing sports or engaging in hobbies, but, after watching television, people report their moods as about the same, or worse than before.

Studies of those at the far end of the television watching spectrum (defined as individuals watching four or more hours of television each day) indicate that, in unstructured situations, these individuals feel "significantly more anxious and less happy than light viewers do". Heavy television users, not surprisingly, are less likely to participate in community activities and are more likely to be obese than moderate viewers or non-viewers.Television’s attraction springs in part from a "biological orienting response", which means that humans orient towards sudden and novel stimuli. When we view sudden, novel stimuli, the blood vessels in our brain dilate, our heart rate slows and blood flow to major muscle groups is constricted. The "formal features" of television, that is, the cuts, edits, zooms, pans and sudden noises, activate the orienting response, keeping our attention on the screen. That may explain why it is so difficult for many people to ignore a television when it is on. Even as a non-television watcher, I am drawn irresistibly to the flicker of the television when I am a guest in someone’s home, or in the staff lounge at my place of work.

It’s not easy to quit the television habit. A number of studies have shown that people do experience withdrawal symptoms when they cut back on television viewing. Many families enrolled in short term television abstinence programs could not complete the period of abstinence. Some families fought more, felt aimless, on edge, and anxious and found it difficult to fill unstructured time.So how does one quit the habit, or at least cut back? Reconfiguring your life around a new set of activities can be a challenge. Here are some useful strategies:

 

1. Be aware of how much, and what you watch on television. Keep a journal and grade your experiences of television watching.
2. Chose other activities- make a list of non-television possibilities. Games, books, walks, crafts, sports music, and volunteer work are some possible alternate activities. Refer to your list before you tune in.
3. Set time limits on your viewing with a kitchen timer
4. Pre-select shows, check out the television guide and choose those shows you want to watch in advance, rather than sitting down and watching non-stop for an entire evening. Tape the shows you want to see and fast-forward through the commercials
5. Shut the television off when a show fails to capture your attention rather than sitting through poor programming.

Who cares if you or I don’t watch television? Broadcasters are already worried about it. Younger people are spending a lot of their time online, instead of watching the tube. The broadcasters’ reaction has been to target all sorts of sexy reality shows at them- Survivor, Temptation Island, Joe Millionaire, etc... Those shows are all attempts to get economically valuable younger people to come back to their sets, to plug them back in.

Perhaps the greatest potential effect of turning off the television is that it may make one happier. According to research done by Tim Kasser at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, young adults who crave fame, money and image tend to be less happy and more depressed. Some psychologists are calling consumerism a ‘happiness suppressant’. Induce anxiety and inadequacy in people, and it’s not surprising that they won’t feel whole or happy. The problem is that if everyone else feels the same way, it’s hard to tell what’s wrong. Turning off the tube has helped me experience this.

So, do I ever miss television? Not really. I feel like I am in more control of my time and my mind. I set my own agenda. I will happily sit back and watch a video on a day when I am too tired to do anything else. I don’t begrudge anyone turning on the set to watch television. I’m just saying that being unplugged works for me. If your television habit interferes with your "ability to grow, learn new things and lead an active life" then why not try to cut back, or kick the habit. If you’re on a spiritual journey, this will give you more time to pursue it. It has certainly helped me.