Readily remote-less: why I don’t watch TV

I can bake the perfect cookie, explain the properties of a black hole and develop a roll of photography film. I can play the ukulele, pogo stick for five minutes straight and identify any alternative rock song from the past ten years.

But I still don’t know how to use my remote control.

When I tell others that I don’t watch TV, I am often met with disbelief. According to the Bureau for Labor Statistics, the average American spends 2.8 hours per day watching TV. In other words, binge watching American Horror Story or anticipating a weekly fix of The Bachelorette have become widely common pastimes; we turn to the screen as a way to decompress.

As a student, I don’t have much free time. The bulk of my time is spent in class, completing homework, sleeping or tending to other responsibilities. Many of my peers are in the same boat: trying to catch a bite of their sandwich between volleyball practice and volunteering at the hospital. When I do have a sizable chunk of free time, it feels like someone is placing Beyonce’s net worth into the palm of my hands; free time is a luxury, rare and lavish.

I’ve never heard anyone say that they’re truly, deeply passionate about watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians or Cake Boss. Most of us don’t watch TV because we love to. We watch TV because it allows us to absorb something–to relax passively.

So when I have time to myself, the last thing on my agenda is to sit in front of a piece of glass and consume the stories of others as they’re projected before my eyes. As human beings, we were meant for more than that.

Think about it this way: by some miracle, particles in the universe came together to create mankind. We are impenetrable combinations of matter, and unlike the matter that surrounds us, we can learn and daydream and wonder and love. By spending nearly three hours a day submerging ourselves into something as creatively soporific as watching TV is demeaning of our abilities as humans.

In my free time, I do things that I absolutely love: I read, I learn for fun, I explore new places and I search for music. I stroll through museums, I send postcards and I try exotic foods. I create a world of my own– a world shaped by my own perception and experiences– rather than absorbing a world through a TV screen.

Not only does watching TV use up time that could be better spent, it can also distort our view of what surrounds us. The little I’ve seen of fictional TV shows generate unreasonable expectations for relationships, personal lifestyles and careers. What we see on TV was specifically tailored to attract us– to keep us watching– and is not always an accurate depiction of reality. As a result, we begin to expect more, referring to one TV show couple or the other as our “relationship goals” or envying the wealth of Gossip Girl characters.

Instead of allowing what we see on TV to shape our goals, I think we should pour more time into pursuing our individual endeavors. When you spend time doing constructive, active things that you really love to do, something magical happens: you grow.

Mental exercise, or the act of doing mentally stimulating activities, may seem tedious in the moment, but can make us much happier in the long run. According to a study conducted by The University of Maryland, happier people tend to spend more of their free time reading and socializing.

Sociologist John P. Robinson, a co-author of the study, said that “the data suggest to us that the TV habit may offer short-run pleasure at the expense of long-term malaise.”

What is most interesting is that the results of the study, according to Phys.org, indicate that unhappy people rated watching TV as a high point of their day.

This may be because watching TV is easy, “viewers don’t have to go anywhere, dress up, find company, plan ahead, expend energy, do any work or spend money in order to view,” according to the article.

In other words, it takes mental energy to partake in thought-provoking activities– that truth alone compels many to resort to their couches. But even though mental exercise is more difficult than watching Netflix, cognitive stimulation makes us happier.

In her 2011 Ted Talk, “How To Stop Screwing Yourself Over,” Mel Robbins discusses how our happiness and success ties into our efforts of self-improvement. In her opinion, one of the reasons some don’t push themselves on a daily basis is that they’ve already convinced themselves they’re fine without whatever it is they’re pushing for.

Turning off the TV and calling an old friend, journaling or going for a run is undoubtedly difficult. In Robbins’ words, there is a certain activation energy required to get going, but once we do, we have the ability to become everything we want to be.

My remote control-less lifestyle isn’t effortless; there are plenty of moments when the torpid nature of watching TV is tempting to me. However, the satisfaction of doing things I love to construct myself, brick by brick, into the person I want to be is enough to keep me off the couch and on my feet.