TV is not an Idiot Box, It makes you an Idiot

Television is believed to be one of the greatest inventions for human being. It let you see and hear far off videos and audios at your own comfort and convenience. It became popular among the people from day it was launched in the market. Initially TV was a sign of rich people and even today the size of your TV screen and its thickness defines how wealthy you are. As the time passed, new and advanced technologies were added to it. It went colored from black and white, it replaced the analog knob and button on TV with remote and it uses Dish antenna instead of earlier Aluminum Antenna (Yagi-Uda antenna). It also went Digital from analog reception and a lot more. I bet almost all of the kids and many young ones may have not seen the TV with analog knob to change the channels and adjust settings. 

In spite of the threat from the invention and revolution of Internet in our life, TV never went out of fashion. Even today it is an inseparable part of our household thing and is treated more like a family member. If for one day, your TV goes off, we all fall sick for it, right? 

As every coin has two sides, TV too has it other side; of all the good things about TV it has never earned a good reputation. In fact, it is popularly known as ‘Idiot Box’ because it is something which makes you an Idiot and not because you have complete control on it. If you consider TV as your friend then it is betraying you, if you think TV as your brother then it will destroy your originality and your culture, if you think TV as your son then it is just going to make you sick.

You may have read this somewhere on the internet or in some magazine, where a primary school teacher asks her students to write about what they would like God to do for them. When the teacher started correcting their essays for what they have written, she came across one beautiful essay which made her cry. A student requested God to make him like a TV in his house so his family is always around him and take him seriously. He wanted to be the center of attraction and be heard by everyone without any interruptions. To receive same care when it is not working and have company of dad when he arrives home from work. He further request, that he wants his mom to want him when she is upset or sad and leave everything aside, every now and then and just spend some time with him. His last line was, “Lord I don't ask you for much.... I just want to live like every TV”. Indeed, every child must want to be like TV.

Sarcastically, it is been rightly said “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book” by Groucho Marx. TV has very limited use in our day to day life. But we have given it much importance than it deserve. It is not meant to watch for the whole day. We see in many houses that they keep their TV sets on for the complete day and will mute only when they don’t feel like watching it. They will switch on their TV early in the morning at 7 or 8 a.m. to hear their religious guru’s speech or some yoga. Then they will watch news (the same news which they have seen the previous night) for an hour or two. After that their regular soaps start coming on TV and they will watch it till afternoon doing their household things alongside in the break. And in the evening they will watch some movie or any Reality show and then news channel till they go to sleep. For such people their world is limited to just to four walls of their house. Was TV invented for that? May be not, at least I will say that.

All the time that we spend on TV is huge which will never back us at any point of our life. We don’t know how much TV we have watched over the years but we have only filled ourselves with noise which only produces unwanted output in our life. Time is very precious and one should never waste it on TV where no one cares what happening on reality TV, when reality is being missed out by us outside the TV. The world outside is growing very fast and you won’t even realize that you wasted all your life working hard and watching TV. Our time is meant for our family members, our kids and the world around us.

As I earlier said TV has very limited use. It should be watched for some good sports or any event coming live which we can’t go and see at venue. It should be watched for some breaking news or for some new movies which you feel like worth watching it. Other than this if you like certain channels or programs which you feel that it will help you to enhance your knowledge then you should go for it and watch. But remember one thing which I feel that “nobody has gained knowledge from TV, it just whitewash your brain”. Knowledge is gained in the open world where you explore the world by yourself in the practical world. In Robin Sharma's words "Stop watching TV. (Bonus points: sell your tv and invest the cash in learning and self-education)."

Now, you must be feeling that what about the entertainment part of TV. Well I just have to say that if you switch off your TV you will have more time to entertain yourself and others too. If you are really fond of watching soaps on TV then try reading novels and other books. All Television stuffs are adopted or inspired by some novels or books. They have much information and a lot more interesting stories than the daily soaps. If you are watching the same news again and again on TV then try reading newspaper. Even if you read only the headline you are bound to become one of the most intelligent, caring and responsible person towards society and the country.

It is been rightly said that “if you read too much books you are called good reader but if you watch too much TV you are not called good viewer”. So, it’s time for all of us to act smarter and not get fooled by the IDIOT BOX. We are human beings and TV can’t control us. Use the extra time for sharing happiness with your family, friends and relatives. Explore the creative part of you and try all the things which you always wanted to do one day.