Are You Brave Enough To Turn Your TV Off Forever?
I’ve had it with TV and I’ve pulled the plug on it forever. Anyone with me? I’m guessing I might be on my own with this one but I was tired of TV hijacking my nights. And I was sick of our lounge room looking like a shrine to the flat-screen TV. All our furniture faced toward it as it subliminally willed us to plonk ourselves down and switch on. And I did – too often. Which is why I decided to make a change. I’m always complaining that I don’t have enough time so the easiest way for me to get more was to let go of one of the biggest time-wasters in my day – TV.
We’ve all read the scary stats that warn us about the link between too much telly and obesity and poor eating habits. It makes sense really given that on average most of us watch a staggering 30-40 hours of telly a week – eek! Just think of what we could do if we used those hours more productively? Now I don’t mean working harder because we need our leisure time but instead of watching other people’s lives on the small screen we could start enjoying our own a little more. Just a thought!
When TVNZ recently released its new OnDemand platform I used that as the perfect opportunity to switch off – or should I say switch over my TV viewing. I’ve pulled the plug on our super-sized TV screen and instead I now get my TV fix online. Okay it’s still TV viewing but the big difference is my telly watching is now appointment viewing only. I realise the easiest solution would probably be to simply stop watching altogether but the problem is I love TV. And I find it entertaining, informative and fun. Not to mention a cosy thing to do on a cold winter’s night.
Above: A few of my favourite TVNZ OnDemand shows and my viewing Watchlist.
Choosing to watch telly via TVNZ OnDemand means I’m more in control of what I’m watching and how much I watch. I simply highlight my favourite shows and then add the episodes I want to watch to my Watchlist. It’s a bit like ring-fencing the shows I know I’ll enjoy watching and not even entertaining the idea of the others. This immediately cuts down my TV-viewing time – boom! I also love the fact that I get to see how much time it will actually take to watch the shows I’ve selected which makes the decision of should I or shouldn’t I a whole lot easier. Before I started using TVNZ OnDemand I didn’t really make many viewing decisions. Instead I’d mindlessly flick through the channels searching for something worth watching.
The feature I really love about the new-and-improved TVNZ OnDemand platform is that if I don’t finish watching a show I can log into any device at a later date and carry on watching from exactly where I last left off. OnDemand is the best way I’ve found to keep my telly-watching in check and give me more control over my viewing.
While I run the risk of sounding like a control-freak (and yes I probably am) what this type of viewing has given me is more time and that’s exactly what I wanted.
Now all that’s left to do is get the rest of my family to follow suit.
Do you spend too much time watching TV? Would you ever consider unplugging or switching to OnDemand viewing? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
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