My seventh wish is that we turn off the television more often and lessen the constant bombardment of advertising, noise and a 24/7 news cycle.  It distracts us from what is important…put on quiet music and read a book, talk to your family, play with your children.

I have found that many people in my age group (I’m 48) are TV addicts and I admit to being one!  If I’m home, the TV is on…as I work, write, read, whatever, it is always on.  I think part of it is because we are the generation that grew up watching ABC, CBS and NBC because they were the only channels available and where I lived we only got NBC and CBS!  Cable came to be as we be grew up and I think somewhere inside us are those kids who had very little choice of television programs and are still fascinated by the overwhelming amounts of programming (good = Criminal Minds; bad = Here Comes Honey Boo Boo) available.

Turning off the TV will also eliminate watching TV news which likely leaves you frustrated and angry about things you can’t control…if you are looking for the weather, look outside and you’ll have a good idea of what it’s going to be like!   If something extreme and newsworthy happens (like nuclear war) I’m sure we will hear about it anyway.  There was a time in our not so distant past that we didn’t know what was happening during a war unless we saw the news reel at the local theatre or had a radio…this was a time when our patriotism was much higher than it is today when we learn about the news as it happens.

I’m going to try to turn off the TV more…we’ll see how it goes!  Can you do it?

  Vicki Reed