Procrastinators Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from chronic procrastination.

quitting TV??

9 January, 2011 - 9:52am - Lucca

Hi everybody!

 

I'm relatively new to PA, but one thing I'm already starting to realise is that TV - or the 'idiot box', as one of my friends calls it - is one of the pillars of my procrastination problem... I think about the things I need to get done, then I turn on the news  for a minute... and then I get sucked in... before I know it I've lost hours to 'Bones' or 'Lie to Me' or some other rubbish!  So I'm thinking of quitting TV altogether. I'm going to try to leave it turned off completely tomorrow - it will be my first attempt to go 'TV-free' for 24 hours...

Has anyone else had any experience with quitting TV? I'd love to hear anyone else's thoughts on the cathode-ray box's role in their life?

 Thanks everyone!

Lucca 

‹ New Here --- For the 2nd time Online Meetings- We need YOU! ›

Haven't had cable in 10 years . . .

gemini - 1 Mar 2011 - 9:53am

And I've previously gone an 8 year stint without it. We do watch movies on DVD and have started watching certain tv series that way as well. I don't miss regular tv programming at all.

I find when I'm single I don't watch it as much (I read a lot, listen to CDs/radio and exercise instead - or go out more), but when I'm in a relationship the guys usually like to watch it for relaxation in the evenings.

BELATED RESPONSE -- how did NO TV go??

leavinghome - 1 Mar 2011 - 9:05am

So almost two months later -- how did your NO TV experiment go? Still NO TV?

 Burka and Yuen in their book "Procrastination" recommend going on a "low information diet." 

In my case, I watch the news and documentaries. I remember as a child wanting to know "everything" because that would make me attractive to the opposite sex -- even if they were attracted to the athletes now, when they got older I was sure they would like a guy who knows everything (lol).

But seriously, I still think a part of me wants to know everything -- so I watch all kinds of TV shows. It's as if I can't prioritize the importance of all of the possible choices of what to do. So I end up watching TV documentaries, instead of preparing for an exam the next day and goofy stuff like that.

I think it is important to be able to examine something, and make a judgement on it and act on that judgement. I have a difficult time doing that, so I watch not-so-valuable TV shows, and can never throw things away.