photo credit: d.billy It’s very fashionable within the personal development blogosphere to deride watching television. It is derided as a complete waste of time that can’t ever contribute to growth, happiness, or relaxation. Steve Pavlina doesn’t watch television, so you shouldn’t either!

Well, I watch television. By your standards, I might watch a lot of television. I find it very helpful at times and I’m going to tell you why.

Open Up My Head and Let Me Out

I’m attending a conference this week. It’s a huge conference with sessions ever 1 1/2 hours. Each session include 3 or 4 presentations. Plus, there are plenaries (that’s fancy conference talk for speeches and discussions) at breakfast, lunch, and cocktail hour. This means that in the course of a 12 hour day, I could be exposed to 18-20 REALLY BIG IDEAS. I’m talking about ideas that have huge implications for the way I work, and the way I approach my professional field.

In addition to that, there are side conversations with many, many people. There are also dinners with colleagues and professional friends. Throw in the stress of traveling to a new city (Philadelphia) in spotty weather, a hotel room mix up that resulted in a late night cab ride to New Jersey and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a brain that has just turned to jelly!

I’m an introvert by nature, and I find all this interaction both overstimulating and completely exhausting.

At the end of a long day, I need to watch me some sweet, mindless television to turn it all off.

Alpha Waves, Sweet Alpha Waves

It’s no secret that watching television produces almost instant relaxation. Why is that? It’s because television causes our brains to slip from the more active beta brainwaves to the more relaxed and unfocused alpha brain waves. Normally this isn’t the most desirable thing (think teenager drooling on himself while watching hours upon hours of The Hills!), but in the case of my overheated brain it feels like heaven!

During the day right now I’m probably in very active beta for a long time. I’m taking in new information, doing a lot of visualization new possibilities, forming new neural connections – and I have to remember to use all the proper utensils when I eat! Television offers instant access to the more laid back areas of my brain.

There are lots of things that we can do to relax. Exercise, meditation, and prayer are just a few of them. However, television is a shortcut. And right now I’m really, really tired so I need shortcuts. At the end of the day I can just hobble back to my standard issue hotel room, flick on the old boob tube, and finally start to unwind.

Why is Television Addicting?

Like anything that influences your brain waves, television can be highly addicting. The signs of massive American television addiction are everywhere. Just count the number of TVs in your house right now. If you’re like most people, your home has more televisions that humans in it. Some studies suggest that the average American watches more than 4 hours per day of television – at least half of our leisure time. I know I’ve been guilty of this at times, and you probably have to. Why is it that television seems to suck you in, even when you don’t want to watch?

Have you ever been in a public place like a doctor’s office or airport where a television is playing in the background? You may have no intention of watching it – it’s probably tuned to CNN or some really bad soap opera – but you find yourself staring at it within seconds?

Well, it seems that our survival instinct to observe movement (pdf) is to blame. We are hard wired to pay attention to things that are changing orientation in our physical space, and television provides constant novelty and change to our visual field. Couple this unavoidable attraction with brain wave alteration and you’ve just built the perfect drug.

But all is not lost. You don’t have to be a TV junky. If you really want to cut back on your television watching you can do it. The solution is pretty simple really. Are you ready for it?

Seriously?

Are you sure you can handle it?

Okay, here’s the secret: Get Out of the House and Do Stuff With Other Humans.

If you’re not at home all alone and bored out of your mind, you probably won’t watch television.

Okay, enough of me being an ass. If you have serious suggestions that will actually help people cut back on television watching, please leave your suggestions in the comments. And forgive me, it’s been a long week

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