Last Friday I told you I was asked to keep a TV viewing
journal for the Nielsen company. First
let me say this, I have no idea how I got signed up for it. All I know is I got a one page survey in the
mail which included two $1 bills. It
asked me to fill out the survey. It
included a postage paid envelope. I was
getting $2 (just 19 cents short of a grande black coffee). It took all of 1 minute. So I did it, and enjoyed my store bought
coffee the next morning, feeling as though I had earned it by doing my
part. What I did not realize is because
I did a one page survey, they were going to ask me to keep a journal. They mailed the journal and five $1
bills. I figured it could be interesting
and I don’t watch much television anyway, so it wouldn’t be hard. And it wasn’t. Plus, it meant more store bought coffee!
All you do is log when the television is on or off, and
when on, what channel and program is being watched. Finally, you indicate who the viewer is. Since Boomer is not a big TV watcher, it was
all me. What I learned is that I am a
creature of habit. I watch the same
things every day. I watch the Today show
on NBC for 20 minutes before work. I
watch a couple of cooking channels after work, followed by the local news and
the national news, and then more cooking channels. The TV is usually off by 8pm because I am
exhausted (from getting up so early) and I want to read. On an average work day I watched 3 hours of
television (I didn’t count the TV’s I aimlessly stare at while running at the
gym – my brain wasn’t even focused enough the other morning when it took me 20
minutes to realize the one I was looking at but not listening to was actually a
French channel – I was very reassured I wasn’t having a stroke when I figured
it out). That equals about 12% of my
day watching television. According to
Nielsen, the average American watches television for 20% of their day. At least I wasn’t that bad. Except on the weekends, when I would watch
even more cooking shows. And on the
Monday I had off from work and was sick, I don’t want to even think about the
percentage of my day staring at the television.
So, my week of recording my television viewing habits has
led me to my first Life Experiment: One week without television. What will my days be like? Will I find I have more time or more
boredom? Do I use television to relax or
procrastinate? Will I feel less
connected to the world or relieved to be cut off from the 24 hour news
cycle? What exactly will I do in the
evenings when I have no other plans? How
will I make sure to relax and not fill the extra hours with a need to be
productive? It should be interesting and
I will report throughout the week and share my final thoughts next Monday.
Today is day one of my Life Experiment. The habit of watching the Today show to start
my day has been a part of my life since before I can remember, as my dad always
watches it. I actually felt a little
nervous when I woke up and realized my week sans TV had begun (even though I
turned it off at 7pm last night – nothing good on anyway.) I had NPR on in the kitchen to make sure I
could get some sense of connection this morning. And tonight I have a meeting at church, so I
am guessing the television would not have been on anyway. It is a good way to ease myself into this
experiment.
Tomorrow I will share with you one of my new habits:
always eating at the kitchen table. I
will have plenty of time now that I am not rushing to finish my dinner so I can
catch the news. See you then!
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