Home Remedies: Television Addiction

Let’s see what’s on. Click. On channel 3, there’s a rerun of America’s Funniest Home Videos. Switch to channel 4—a movie called Witch Academy, in which the devil turns a sorority pledge into a monster. On The Price Is Right, a 20-year-old college student has just won a new car. On channel 8, there’s an infomercial pitching a baldness cure. A few more stabs at the remote control, and suddenly there’s a nude woman on a talk show—her private parts electronically camouflaged by the camera—angrily telling her husband, “I’m never going to wear clothes again, and I don’t care how you feel about it.”

Wow! Television certainly has come of age. From the primitive days of I Love Lucy, it has evolved into a 100-channel soap opera available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Life—the good, the bad, and the ugly—is just a remote control click away, and all without ever leaving your home.

Is this retirement bliss? Hardly

For anyone with extra hours to fill, TV watching can actually become a health hazard. “Seniors can quickly become mentally and physically disabled if they watch too much television,” says Kurt V. Gold, M.D., physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist who works with the Nebraska Spine Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Sound alarmist? As Dr. Gold sees it, there’s a risk that “TV viewing replaces physical activity. And without regular physical activity, the heart weakens, bones become brittle, and muscles lose their tone and flexibility. So older people who watch a lot of television are really setting themselves up for falls, fractures, and other physical problems. In addition, TV viewing not only ages your body, it impairs your mind. Television simply isn’t an activity that exercises your brain very much.”

Yet many seniors spend a lot of time in front of the TV, according to a study conducted by the Americans’ Use of Time project at the University of Maryland in College Park. An average senior devotes 26 hours a week or 56 days a year solely to the tube. No one intentionally spends one out of every seven years in front of a TV screen. Yet that’s what you’re doing if the daily shows consume 26 hours of every week.

“Once you start watching TV, it can be very engrossing,” says Dr. Gold. But sitting around that much isn’t good for anyone—especially older adults, he points out. “A senior who watches a lot of television will probably develop more aches and pains and will likely need more medications to get through the day.”

If you’re concerned about your viewing habits, here are some strategies to help pull the plug on TV dependency.

Try This First

Plan, don’t scan. Get into the habit of plotting out your viewing schedule, says Matthew Lombard, Ph.D., associate professor of communication at Temple University in Philadelphia. Browse through a programming guide and mark no more than two shows a day that you want to watch. In addition, write down at least two tasks you want to do immediately after the programs end. Then stick to that schedule. Turn off the set as soon as each show ends, and dive into your chores, Dr. Lombard says. This will discourage you from channel surfing.

Other Wise Ways

Tune into reality. Get out of the house as much as possible, Dr. Gold advises. At least once a day, go for a walk, visit a museum, take a class, or do another activity that you enjoy. Odds are, when you do come home, you’ll feel energized and ready to do anything except watch television.

Give it a rest. Make the television off-limits at least one night a week, Dr. Gold suggests. You’ll be amazed at the mind-stretching things you can find to fill that time.

Get back to basics. Cancel your cable and limit your household to one television, recommends Dr. Lombard. The more channels and sets you have, the more tempted you’ll be to watch.

Record while you play. If you own a VCR, record your favorite shows so you can get out and enjoy life, Dr. Lombard suggests. Taping will actually reduce your viewing time since you can fast-forward through commercials.

Taping will also help you weed out programs that aren’t important to you. A good rule of thumb: If you don’t watch a taped show within a week, perhaps you need to reassess why you’re tuning in at all, Dr. Lombard says.

Place it out of sight, out of mind. Put your television in an awkward location. If it’s in a room with no chairs, you’ll have to make an effort to watch it, according to Dr. Gold.

Sound it out. Radio is a better companion because you don’t have to be in the same room to enjoy it, and you’ll be more apt to do other things while you listen, Dr. Gold says.