Believe me, I have been away from the Idiot Box for two years. I do not have a cable connection but watch movies on my DVD. Have I missed anything? Absolutely nothing, except maybe BBC, CNN and Sun/Jaya TV (to check on hometown happenings). The illeffects of TV have been discussed for years; how it leaves people overweight; how kids who view violent acts show aggressive behavior; etc. According to the British Journal of Sports Medicine, long periods sitting before TV leads to obesity, heart disease, cancer and diabetes and higher risk of death, irrespective of moderate or vigorous exercise.
OK, enough of scaring you. My anger at TV is the discord it creates at homes. I knocked at a relative’s door in Chennai and heard a loud noise: “Rascal, Why did you come back. Get lost.” Oh, it was from the TV.
Oof. I wiped my sweat when the relative opened the door. He looked at me and again at the TV. The entire bloody family were like maniacs addicted to TV. It took 20 minutes for the serial to end and the folks to return to normal and recognize my presence.
I know families that have split because of TV. How? Elderly people spend time before TV. Several middle class families in Mumbai/Chennai live in 1 or 2 room houses. Children are not able to study in peace. Wives returning home after a hard day’s work end up quarelling with their inlaws. What? Not in your house? You are lucky buddy.
But at home I can’t complain. My wife is jumping with joy. The political party in Tamil Nadu which formed the government distributed free colour TVs to all families. And she got one free for my home.
Hey, why am I complaining about TV?
You know what, when somebody visit our house, irrespective of the show, we immediately switch it off, just to respect the guest!!
ReplyDeleteAt my home we have one TV that everyone has to share. It teaches us cooperation. Right now I am watching The Men's Single Final at the Australian open and wishing that Murry would pull a miracle.
ReplyDelete:) According to the book SuperFreakonomics, the TV also was responsible on curbing domestic violence in India. It came as a surprise since there is always a fight with the opposite sex to view the premium channels!
ReplyDeleteMay be TV is most unsocial.but I can not do without my daily dose of entertainment and news.
ReplyDeleteI rarely watch tv these days..btw, I loved the new header..too good..very positive kinda :)
ReplyDeleteHi there R.! I like your new blog header too. About TV? I didn't watch TV for nine years, just movies like you. Now we have a dish to get a signal...and NOISE all around. Still, I admit I like the bio and home shows. Also I like knowing what's happening around the world though I still get a lot of news from the computer. We have only one TV connected to the channels...another is just for DVDs. I still like the concentrated focus of watching a movie without commercials- Don't say the C word- what a noisy disturbing materialistic drum! I had forgotten how annoying the sales pitches are...sigh...Mr. R. I'm with you- it's much easier to watch the DVDs and skip the TV.
ReplyDeleteNowadays TV has become a part of our life. I rarely watch TV. I usually watch news and History channel, Animal Planet and Discovery channel.
ReplyDeleteDistributed free TV's?? Oh! God!! Thats too much!!! But yes TV at one used to be at the background, now no more!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, my relatives too got the free TV, which is kept in their bed room! Tax payers' money!
ReplyDeleteI like to watch news and one serial and some musical reality shows! My husband and son Sports addicts! So TV is an important gadget at home.
How do you live without SUN channel?!
I am not really an addict but I do catch up on some of my favourites every now and then. But there are some people who ignore guests and keep watching the serial, and it annoys me to death.
ReplyDeletethe hometown happenings,the idea to be nostalgic made me have some malayalam news channels here.But I regret recently seeing the painful embarassing stroies,compelling me to keep away.Now one hr for regional and one hr for NDTv.being a news savvy,how can I go more than this ?
ReplyDeleteWe don't have the attention span any more I guess.
ReplyDeleteSerials are addictive and I have seen houses where life is planned around their timings...these family dramas have redefined relationships
ReplyDeleteVerum 'nandri' pothaathu, Ramesh! Yen post padiyungal pl.!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post yet again!
ReplyDeleteSarabitschgi, I have absolutely no time to watch TV. Why? Your blog uses up all my free time :)
ReplyDelete@Mridual: Apparently you didn't wish hard enough ;-))
I dont watch TV at all. Just dont have the patience to keep sitting in front of it and letting it tell me how to cook, how to dress, basically how to lead my life, niether do I have the patience for over hyped news reporting, The newspaper I cannot do without but the TV can go to hell for all I care.
ReplyDeleteAnything in moderation is not bad. while TV provides information and entertainment, becoming its addict is bad.
ReplyDeleteYou know.. I am with you on this whole TV thing.
ReplyDelete