taking stock of reality

Let me drop some knowledge on you:

• Percentage of households that possess at least one television: 99
• Number of TV sets in the average U.S. household: 2.24
• Percentage of U.S. homes with three or more TV sets: 66
• Percentage of Americans that regularly watch television while eating dinner: 66
• Number of hours per day that TV is on in an average U.S. home: 6 hours, 47 minutes

The average America watches 20-26 hours of TV a week. I tallied my own statistic last week - I watch about 30 hours of TV a week. That's right, 30. And let me assure you folks, this isn't 30 hours a week that I have the TV in the background on while I do chores, or engage with other people. I'm a freakin' zombie. I sit on the couch, I stuff my face, and I watch 24, Heroes, Burn Notice, Leverage, Friends, 30 Rock, The Office, Community, Lost, How I Met Your Mother, Numb3rs, Glee, and just about any movie I can get my hands on. Count 'em up - that's twelve shows that I follow religiously. TWELVE. And I don't just watch each show once. No - I've watched all 10 seasons (240 episodes) of Friends so many times, that I have a completely comprehensive index of what happens to each character in each episode. For example, I can tell you that it's in season 9, episode 2 that Joey reveals he doesn't know how to use air quotes.

30 hours a week. That's 1560 hours a year - 65 out of 365 days of the year that I tune out my training, my friends, my wife, my God to relive the experiences of fictional characters I've come to artificially know and love. The saddest part is that this is not a new realization. I've been completely aware of my unhealthy commitment to TV for almost 10 years. In those 10 years, I've tried to stop watching TV or at least cut back 7 times. Each time, I not only failed to stop watching TV, but I started watching more. I judge smokers for throwing their life away at the hands of their addiction, but the fact of the matter is that I'm no better at confronting my addiction than they are. You wanna talk about wasting your life - one time I was so hard up for TV that I watched a discover channel VHS tape I found in the back of a drawer on tigers and dinosaurs.

Millions of Americans are so hooked on television that they fit the criteria for substance abuse as defined in the official psychiatric manual, according to Rutgers University psychologist and TV-Free America board member Robert Kubey. Heavy TV viewers exhibit five dependency symptoms--two more than necessary to arrive at a clinical diagnosis of substance abuse. These include: 1) using TV as a sedative; 2) indiscriminate viewing; 3) feeling loss of control while viewing; 4) feeling angry with oneself for watching too much; 5) inability to stop watching; and 6) feeling miserable when kept from watching. 

Make no mistake, TV can absolutely be an addiction, and I am absolutely addicted. How about you?