I Dare You To Give Up TV & Social Media For One Month

Can you do it?

Photo by Moaz Tobok

I moved about six months ago. I still don’t have a tv in my home. I think about getting one pretty often. Not to binge watch, but because I enjoy having classic movies or Planet Earth on in the background (99% of the time on silent). But I’m not getting one yet. And it feels liberating.

Years ago, I can recall moments when I have been a tv addict. I would spend countless hours watching the tube. Usually, it was a coping mechanism I leveraged to fill a hole or distract me from what I needed to do most (i.e., executing a goal). 

According to Credit Donkey, “The average person watches about 141 hours of TV per month or 1,692 hours per year [which is an average of about FIVE hours of television PER DAY].

Assuming you reach the average U.S. life expectancy of 78, that’s about 15 years of your life.”

But guess what?!

Some people spend more than five hours of their day watching television. 

Some people spend entire weekends watching the tube or on their phones, spending countless hours on social media and watching videos. 

I see people with low-effort jobs requiring them to sit and do nothing all day. Instead of using the time to be productive and progress on their goals, they use it watching videos and scrolling social media; this is what your average person does.

Why? Working on our goals is uncomfortable. It’s a painful process. It’s a long process that takes time to notice the results. We want immediate pleasure. Those dopamine hits feel epic, and we want as many dopamine hits as possible to escape the facts of our realities.

If you spend countless hours watching television, scrolling social media, and sharing videos and links, you will end up in one destination: Nowhere. 

Unless you’re getting paid to do this, you won’t progress much on your goals if you spend most of your time watching a screen. 

There is nothing productive about this behavior. 

What have I noticed since I’ve not had a tv in my home? The distractions are still endless, but there are fewer.

Everything (including my time) is within my control if I’m dedicated to enforcing boundaries and not allowing the countless distractions in our distracted society to overtake my life and time.

The videos, the movies, the shows, the social media posts, and all the cool stuff the screen offers you will always be available, but your time won’t. 

• How are you going to make an impact?

• How are you going to achieve your goals?

• How are you going to get from point A To B?

Watching a screen or sh*t on social media for countless hours will never allow you the opportunity to do any of these things.

Shift how you spend your time, and you will notice a significant shift in your results.

Maybe you don’t want to give up tv or social for a month. Try one week. See how it changes your life. See what you accomplish. See how your mental health improves. Observe how your motivation increases.

You won’t be the same person. And while you’re on the break, spend some time reading and listening to elevating material.

But most importantly, execute and be productive.

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