It arrives every few months in a plain brown A5 envelope. It’s a TV survey that I’ve been taking part in for quite a few years now. I’m not quite sure whose research it is, though I have my suspicions that it’s connected to one of the local commercial television stations.
It asks me to rank a range of programmes and personalities. 1 means that I don’t know the programme or haven’t watched it. 7 means that it’s a favourite and I make sure that I watch it. Then there’s a range of options in between.
The interesting one for me is number 3. You choose 3 if it’s a programme you don’t like but will watch anyway. Who does that? Why would you sit down in front of the box and watch something that you don’t like?
There are lots of shows that I think are great but I choose not to watch them because if I watched every piece of good television ever produced I’d never leave the couch.
If I don’t get time to watch every show that I enjoy, why on earth would I watch shows that I don’t like?
Do you ever find yourself slumped in front of the box watching a show just because it’s on or because it’s the best of what’s on at the time? Maybe it’s time to invest in a good book or even rediscover the lost art of conversation.
I can’t help but feeling that if I’m watching shows I don’t like, I’ve handed control of my time over to a piece of electronic gadgetry that I should be controlling.
Posted by Rodney Olsen
Technorati Tags: Television – Time Management – Survey
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That is SO funny. Why on earth would anyone do that? As you say, there’s too much to do to watch rubbish.
A cannot say that I would ever watch something that I did not like. There are way too many other things to do in life than watch television as it is without watching things that I don’t like. Having said this, if I am having trouble sleeping at night I will usually turn the TV on and watch the best of the rubbish that happens to be on at that time. This is a good thing that I am not interested in what I am watching because it helps put me to sleep. If I enjoy what I am watching it just keeps me awake.
conversation… what’s that?
does the fact that programs i don’t usually like are on because i use it as background noise count?
and then of coz you glance at the tv and get distracted by whatever horrifying things that happens to be airing at the moment.
but then of coz, sometimes, you resist temptation and do not switch on the tv and suddenly you realise, “silence can be so enjoyable!”