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The times we live in today are so completely 100% different to when my parents grew up, and indescribably different to the times that my grandparents grew up in.

We have cellphones, video consoles, home cinemas,computers with high-speed internet, shopping malls, cars that go from 0-100km/h in under 3 seconds, gps systems the size of your palm and the list can go on and on.

My parents witnessed the first color TV. Actually they grew up as little kids without TV. They played with friends outside in the streets and in the snow.

When I was young I spent quite a bit of time playing video games, but I still spent a healthy amount of time outside in the ‘real world’. If you look at the young generation of today you can see them spending hours and hours watching TV, playing video games and texting on their cell-phones.

It’s ridiculous if you ask me, but that is what modern society has shaped our young ones to be.

Technological advance is unstoppable. With so many people in the world, everything is going to get better, smarter, (smaller where electronics are concerned) and cheaper. There is even the possibility to watch hundreds of TV channels on your computer!

This is not necessarily a bad thing. I’m all for the progress we have made in the medical field for instance. It’s amazing how doctors can help people who have had accidents or serious trauma.

The key word is ‘moderation’. Just like with everything in life, you need a healthy balance. The two ‘evils’ of modern society that I want to address in this post are the television and the computer.

Average Hours Spent Watching TV

According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube. – Source

Average Time Spent Online

Teenagers spend an average of 31 hours a week online and nearly two hours a week looking at pornography, according to a study. – Source









I’m not going to pretend that I am the perfect example of having a healthy balance when it comes to TV and computer. I hardly ever watch TV (as in like less than an hour a month) but I sometimes spend more than 10 hours a day on the computer. This is mostly because I really want to build up a passive income from websites and blogs, and I put most of my free time into that. However, I am fully aware that I spend at least 2 hours or more of that time doing very unproductive things (like Facebook and playing Starcraft 2).

I still try to keep a balance when I can. I like to go to gym, to eat healthy, to spend time with friends and to read books and play piano or guitar.

There are definitely a few positive effects from TV such as education you gain from watching documentaries or getting ideas from certain movies and shows.

There are also positive effects from spending time online, especially when you research, learn or build something up (like websites or blogs).

However, the sad reality is that TV and the Internet mostly have a negative effect on the majority of people. It robs you from your creativity, it makes you lazy and unwilling to exercise, it makes you eat unhealthy, it makes you sleep less and it can also make you very anti-social.

There are some more serious consequences from sitting behind a computer all day like:

• Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) that you get from clicking all the time
• It’s really bad for your eyes because you focus on the screen without moving around and you blink much less which dries out your eyes.
• Bad posture
• Often it causes you to eat junk food and more than necessary

Even if you do need to spend time behind the computer for your work, take a 5 minute break every 30 minutes. Stand up and move around a bit, close your eyes and move your eyeballs in circles and relax them a bit. This will definitely help our health!

Here’s How To Turn Your Life Into Awesome
(I.E. Your Mission For Today)

Let’s say theoretically that your life is perfectly the way you want it. You have enough money, a beautiful house and a gorgeous girlfriend/boyfriend. Even if you could sit on your butt for 10 hours a day and watch TV, is that really what you would do with your time?

Make a little estimation for yourself of how much time you spend watching TV and in front of the computer every day / week. Don’t be surprised if this is more than 2 hours a day.

Now think about what you would like to achieve. Don’t tell me you don’t have goals. Everyone has goals and dreams.

Maybe you want financial freedom, maybe you want a better-looking body, maybe you want to learn to cook.

Kill Your TV!

Whatever your personal goals are, why not halve your time spent watching TV and being in front of the computer and use that time to work on achieving your goals? Try it for a month and see how much you can get done!