SoulSurvivor

Remote Control

I have decided that lately I have been watching entirely too much television.

It is almost a borderline addiction. Soon after getting the "good" cable (800 channels complete with On Demand features), my best friend used to tease me when I would try to slyly get out of a phone call.

"Oh, you're going to chill with your new best friend, Cable. I see how it is!"

It was like that. I was hooked. I messed around and got a DVR box to record everything I wanted to watch while I was away from the tv (or the channel, in some instances), because believe it or not, everything wasn't available On Demand. I'm not sure of the exact moment I became addicted. I hardly ever watched tv in college. Now I spend at least four to six hours a day in front of the television. I find myself silencing my phone when I'm watching a good program, and deciding to just "stay in" when my friends call to invite me out.

I had to get to the bottom of this.

So I decided, on a Sunday afternoon, that I would try to go a full day without watching television.

I was miserable.

I tried to read a book, but my mind kept wandering...from what I was going to wear the next day to what I was doing with my life...then it would race to which bills I had paid... to which bills I had not paid... to who had called last, me or him... to do I need anything from the store?... to wishing I had some ice cream... to wishing all of this bullshit with my father would blow over...to wondering when was the last time I called my sister...to what the fu*# happened in London?... to what is my purpose on this earth????

And I couldn't even change the channel when I didn't like what was on in my brain.

Too much reality for a Sunday afternoon.

So I went back to my Escape. click. Other Reality. click. Someone Else's Reality. click. False Reality. click. Anything But My Reality. click. RealityTV?....click.

I realized why I watch so much television. Mindless entertainment totally transports me out of my world and into one where the problems aren't mine, if there are any.

If I don't like them, I have the Remote Control.



Any phone call or silent moment would be like a little suction tunnel, swiftly sucking me back into my real life.


It's not so bad, really. When I have other things to focus on, such as work and actually being with friends, it's not that bad. But at the end of the day, I always have to watch a little television, even if it is right before I go to bed. I keep it on while I sleep.

So I can dream about someone else's life and not be plagued in my sleep about my own.

posted by DramaQueen @ 4:51 PM