Watching TV Could Cost You $1 Million
When people ask me what was the best decision I made when I decided to create this website, they are often surprised when I tell them that it was my decision to quit watching TV.
There is no doubt that TV costs people far more financially than they believe. For most people, TV is a habit that costs in excess of $1 million over a lifetime, or the equivalent of a healthy retirement account.
I made a conscious choice about five years ago to drastically reduce the amount of TV I watch. The average person now watches 4.5 hours of TV a day.
While my watching habits weren’t quite that bad, I did find out I was watching about three hours a day, far more than I thought at the time.
I made the conscious decision to take those three hours and devote them to creating a website with a friend of mine.
Over the first three years I used the time I had been watching TV to help create and build our websites while still working full time in another job.
It’s amazing the amount you can accomplish when you find an extra 3,285 hours to work on something you enjoy doing rather than vegging in front of the TV.
Those hours helped us create a small network of websites and blogs which allowed both of us to quit our jobs and work on them full time a couple of years ago.
To put it into perspective, if you watch an average of 31.5 hours of TV each week (which the average person in the US does) and you value your time at minimum wage of $5.85 an hour, you are spending nearly $800 a month to watch TV. That comes to nearly $10,000 a year.
I would imagine that most people reading this value their time well above minimum wage, so the cost is likely several times that number. When you look at it from that perspective, watching TV is an extremely expensive and financial draining habit to have.
Photo by tween.org.
Kevin Makice on July 27th, 2007 10:22 am
The problem with this insight is that it oversimplifies the activity of “watching TV” as a time suck where nothing is happening. That isn’t fair or accurate.
Hopefully, viewers are discerning enough to be selective and balanced in their lives, but there are definite benefits to staying plugged in to the boob tube.
Television, movies and other “passive” entertainment activities provide important exposure to culture. This translates into conversation starters and a means of entry into social networks. The fact that you know what happened on the last episode of The Office has currency that can help establish an strengthen relationships.
TV is also a source of creative inspiration. Although some professions will benefit from that more than others, all humans make some use of creative thoughts in problem solving. Those ideas may be very blatant as plot devices or props to shows, but most are more subtle … exposure to a new term or character reaction that can lead somewhere important.
All those hours sitting in front of a TV are certainly in competition for other things that don’t necessarily involve media or technology. But to assume nothing is going on while you sit your butt on a couch is ignoring how active the mind has to process what it sees on the screen.
Moderation, not elimination.
Alberto L. 'ALBatro de li 7 mari' Beretta on July 27th, 2007 12:46 pm
Dane,
I essentially agree with you.
All in all most private (spotting), ‘free’ TV is a tool for sellers to make you buy anything you often don’t even need.
The so called ‘public’ TV, which could have a channel, why not, isn’t all in all ‘public’, shich should mean ‘intitutional’: is party controlled, a and a party isn’t public, but a private political, not economic, organization who wants political power.
And TV, all TV, costs too much to be set up.
Much better spend time, up to 4.30, in other ways, maybe being paid for and through blogging and writing, starting and maintaining real, good, ongoing relationships, or reading, making love, eat a (true) pizza, taking a long walk, talking and drinking with friends, paying a visit to elders and sons and daughters…
Definitely.
Arrivederci (Goodbye, in Italian)…
Jude on July 28th, 2007 4:55 am
Thanks Kevin Makice. I agree with you about the value of watching television.
Todd Harrison - la headshot Photography on July 28th, 2007 3:42 pm
I agree but you still need to have some down time or you go crazy. that does not mean you have to watch TV. I enjoy going to the movie and it cost at least $10 everytime. But I have found myself watching very little tv. I think tv also stills your energy and you find yourself drained. It also makes it hard to have original ideas also.
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