Television, Obesity, and Just Plain Laziness
Ok, so it is not hard to see that America is getting fatter as a nation. We hear about it on the evening news, read about it the paper, and yet we don’t seem to be changing anything about our lifestyle. We all know that eating too much is bad. Most of us know that the fast food industry is advertising something fierce to make me buy more crappy food. Heck, movies have been made rebelling against the fast food industry, yet we get fatter and fatter.
We are getting inundated with food advertising, no doubt, but somewhere I read that I should be exercising too. Hmmm. Is America exercising much these days? Not that I can see. Wait, what about television? I think 4 hours a day is a little too much, so maybe we should start getting up from the television. If you ask me, the quality of television is just going down the toilet bowl. I have not watched a 30 minute sit-com in probably 6 years. What I do see of them is a complete waste of time. Watching paint dry is more exciting, because at least that is being productive. Don’t get me wrong, I like some television. Every night as I go to bed I turn on the History channel. If that does not have anything cool, I go over to Discovery or TLC. In the event those three stations all suck, I go with CNN. I watch a little football now and then, but the rest of the time I am listening to music and getting on with my life, doing something productive. Building boats, going for a run, playing with my kid, working to become a better professor, whatever. I can think of about 5325 different things that are a better use of my time than watching television.
Exercise is good for our bodies and prolongs life, but what about that glorious runners high? Dude, that’s reason enough to go out for a nice workout, let alone that whole healthy body thing. If I have 30 minutes free, what ‘good’ is coming out of watching a gimcrack of a television show? The answer is it brought me 30 minutes closer to my death. Wow, I can never have that 30 minutes back. What a waste of my time. People complain about wasting time in traffic, or waiting in line. What about the time they spend in front of a television, unmoving, barely engaged, hearing about the latest dish at the local restaurant, watching bad television. They don’t complain about that because it was a personal choice. They choose to sit there. They choose to no go exercise. No one to blame but yourself, my friend.
We seem to be getting more lazy at the same time. Microwave meals, pre-sliced cheese, lunchables, remote controls, tivo, jeez. Get off the damn couch and make yourself some food. We are spending more time at work though, so we must be better workers. Wait, if we are spending more time at work, that means we are spending less time living. Why are we doing that?
What the heck is your purpose on this planet? Is it to cash a paycheck? If it is, then that’s sad. Any time you are spending at work is time you are not living. Unless, of course, you are on of those lucky people who truly love your job, enjoy spending many hours a week away from your family making the world a better place. In those rare cases, you are alive all the time. Most of us do not have that luxury.