As a result of quarantine, more of us are turning to TV (or Netflix) to get us by. After a long day (and especially a long week), it’s easy to give in to temptation and sit in front of the TV for a few hours. But while we all know how bad fast food can be for you, we don’t pay enough attention to the way too much TV can damage your mental health. Most of Top Life Coach Carole Ann Rice’s work focuses on making people the best versions of themselves. Here, she shares the truth about how TV undermines your chances of living your best life.
It devours your time. That hour you spend watching the Kardashians might be entertaining, but it’s an hour you won’t get back. So long as you sit there watching glamorous people jet around the world and dine at fancy restaurants, you’re not living your own life – you’re just living vicariously through other people, including fictional ones.
It doesn’t enrich your life. You’re not just wasting time by watching the Kardashians; you’re passing up chances to learn, grow and change for the better. Most TV shows don’t teach you anything that will make your life fuller and happier. So if you’re going to watch TV, try to focus on substantial, healthy programmes that will contribute something to the life you live away from the screen. For instance, animal documentaries or biopics are great.
It sets you up to fail with impossible standards. When you get obsessed comparing yourself unfavourably with others, you lose 100% of the time – I call it “compare and despair”. This is the trap TV sets you. Remember that the celebs you see probably have personal trainers, chefs, and stylists to make them look good enough for the cameras. To be more content and happy with yourself, turn off the box and develop your own look.
It manipulates you without you even knowing. Most TV is, at the end of the day, a product of big business. TV companies thrive on keeping people hooked, and they often don’t really care how; the more sensational, unrealistic and shocking, the better. Get sucked in and you might just forget that this isn’t what real life is like.