Don't Watch TV! (well, maybe a little…)

Sometimes the statistics on advertising make me sad. The other day I read an article that reminded me that the average kid, by the time they enter school, will have already viewed 30,000 commercials. A typical working adult who listens to the radio as they commute by car on a freeway and who watches a hour of television daily can be subjected to between 300 and 1000 marketing messages daily.
One message, over and again: “Don’t be satisfied with what you have.”
Who can be happy when every minute of your day someone is telling you you can’t be happy unless you have their product? Unless you have a sexier car? The body of a supermodel! A bigger house! Nicer stuff!
Marketers live in mortal fear of satisfied people. Why? Because people who are satisfied are no longer consumers. They stop buying ‘stuff.’
~average hour of TV = 40 mins program, 20 mins commercials. Avg commercial 30 secs, that’s 40 per hour, not including product placement on TV shows and movies.
You’re exposed to such messages all over the place, of course. TV is the champion because so many people spend so much time in front of it.
I’m not REALLY saying you should stop watching TV. It does provide entertainment. Still, 33% of your viewing time is spent absorbing messages that say, “don’t be happy! don’t be satisfied!” And then you wonder why you can’t experience more happiness.
BE AWARE of the messages. Turn them off for awhile. Turn off the TV for one week, and let your system rest. Then when you go back to it, notice what happens to your contentment.