Americans spend an average of four hours a day watching TV, an hour of that enduring ads. That adds up to an astounding 10% of total leisure time; at current rates, a typical viewer fritters away three years of his life getting bombarded with commercials.”
–Scott Woolley, Forbes
A Mindful Life / Kathryn Harper
express : discover : renew : create
mute button! I cannot stand the sound of ads!!!
When I hear these TV-watching stats, I always wonder who these Americans are. I mean, who has 3-6 hours a day to watch TV?
Some of the commercials on television are better theater than the shows. More creativity, intelligence and soul seem to have gone into them. I’d rather watch commercials than, say, sit-coms or “reality” shows.
Of course, the real problem with commercials is the darn repeats, they just keep showing them over and over!
TiVo!
Another reminder why I am glad I got rid of my big tv, and cable.
Don’t they have Tivo?
My kids and hubby don’t watch anything without Tivoing it first. I don’t watch TV at all – the Intertubes are far more compelling for me.
It’s funny to me, that people deliberately avoid commercials. I lived for several years denied the ability to watch commercials with my television, and I must say that I’m a commercial fiend.
But I cannot abide infomercials.
No commercials when you read a book!
We tend to tape programs we like, and then later in the evening we watch them and fast-forward through all the commercials. (We are too low-tech for Ti-Vo.)
We NEVER watch a movie shown on commercial television because the incessant commercials render it not enjoyable. Much better to spend a few dollars and rent one.
There was an experiment written up in the entertainment press recently. A sponsor backed a one-hour program on commercial television. A statement was made early on that the sponsor — in the interest of viewers — was limiting the total commercial play during the hour to — I believe, 8 minutes. This is less than half of the normal time for commercials.
Apparently this was very well received by viewers. So this vendor got less time to hawk products, but considerable good will.
Let’s hope this is a trend.
Oh, by the by, I seldom “fritter away” my TV time. I mostly have my guitar in hand, noodling. “Noodling” is a term not unique to guitaring, but it basically means playing sort of aimlessly, letting the sound and feel of the guitar, the motion of the fingers, serve as a sort of meditation, if you will, and sometimes during the process inspiration leads to composing something or having a light go off as to how to play a song one has heard but not theretofore having figured out how to play. Keeping the hands involved is good “practice” in any event.
Love these comments, everyone!
We got Tivo several years ago, and it’s made our television watching intentional and meaningful. Regardless of the type of show, having control over when to watch it and the option to skip commercials has improved the experience.
Even when you don’t skip, just being able to mute (so you can concentrate on the bill you’re paying, or the email you’re sorting) brings you back into the mix of Spectator and Independent Agent that you want to be. (Heck, I sometimes have to pause DVD’s so I can catch my breath or make some progress on whatever it is I’m doing that justifies sitting in front of the TV! 🙂