I turned my television off a long time ago.  Yes I watch PBS occasionally or I will watch “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” but I do not watch television.  Why?  Because I do not want to view all of the violence and drama. 

Everyday the television programing revolves around sex, violence and dysfunctional relationships.  Studies have shown that people who watch more than 3 hours of television per day are depressed, anxious and have elevated stress levels as indicated by physical changes in their bodies.  The other danger from this is that you come to believe that is the reality of the world you live in.

Behavioral scientists know that if you view something or are told something repeatedly, you begin to believe it…..whether or not it is true.  For example:  If a newscaster stands in front of you every night for a week, showing you the same images of a crime scene, uses words like “war zone” or “devastating”to describe the scene and along with the title “Violence in Our Streets”; you will believe that we have violent streets.  You will become anxious, fearful and hope that someone does something to make your streets safe again. 

This one incident, played over and over in front of you, causes you to believe that you live in a violent society.  Even though it was one incident, with one victim, suddenly your perception of your whole world changes because your mind has been overloaded with the images of the crime.  And we do this to ourselves night after night. 

If you don’t believe that this has any effect on you think about this, it is no different than the psychology that advertisers use to promote their products and ultimately get you to buy.  They put images of a beautiful car in front of you, you jump in and drive…right past the traffic jam, right past the office and out onto the open road with the stereo blasting and a look of confident control on your face.  After seeing this several times, you begin to fantasize about taking a day and hitting the road.  You become dissatisfied with your car, your job, your life.  This causes you to look for a way to buy a new car which, hopefully, will change your life.  Don’t laugh.  We all have our buttons.  The advertisers know this.  For some it is cars, others it is electronic equipment and others it is shoes or handbags.  We run out and buy these things, believing that we need them and it will make our lives better.  Then we can’t figure out why we are still depressed.

Turn off the TV!  TURN OFF THE TV!  Stop buying into the make believe world portrayed on the television and go outside, experience it for yourself.  Read a book, talk to your kids or your spouse, mow the yard, paint but turn off the TV.  If you do this for 2 weeks, I assure you, you will see a difference in yourself……and a difference the next time you turn on the television.  You won’t find the television programing as entertaining as you did previously. 

The worst part?  We give politicians and other authorities the right to change laws and make decisions based on the unreal world they feed us through media.  We don’t question it, we don’t research it, we don’t make them prove their point or justify their plans.  We say to them “Just Do It”.