January 19, 2011

What Can You Do With 13 Extra Hours?


When I was little, my mom didn’t have cable at the house and didn’t let me and the siblings watch very much TV – which might be one of the reasons I’m a TV addict now… Anyways, thanks to DVR and the fact that I now live by myself, I have a lot of time to get lost in TV land. I never have to share the remote or pick between two shows – it’s great!

Or is it…

According to The Nielsen Co., 99% of American households have at least 1 TV, and 31% of American households have 4 or more TVs. The average American watches more than 35 hours of TV per week. Think about that. There are 168 hours in a week. I’m asleep for at least 49 of those hours, so I’ll assume you are too. The average person is at work 40 of those hours. AT MOST, that leaves 79 hours of ‘free time’ left in a week. Do you spend 44% of your free time watching TV?

I tallied up my TV time from last week. 20 hours of television (Note: I’m not including the 2 movies I watched. Yikes!). I use my DVR, so technically that cuts it down to about 13 hours – and I’m underestimating because I always forget to fast forward through commercials… I didn’t think 13 hours was that bad – especially since most of my TV time happens after 8 pm. In reality, 13 hours adds up. If I live to be 123 (yep, that’s right – I’m going to break the Guinness World Record), I’ll spend over 83,148 hours watching TV. That’s 9.5 years of my life sitting on the couch (and I’m lowballing).

That’s scary. From now on, I’m going to try to spend no more than 2 hours a week ONLY watching TV. There are so many other things I could be doing while “my shows” are on. I mean, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to keep up with what’s happening on The Bachelor. So if I’m not doing crunches, folding clothes, or cleaning my kitchen – I’ll make sure I’m watching TV with other people. At least that way, I’ll have some social interaction. Plus, it’s way more fun to watch reality TV with friends. I am by no means saying that I’m going to cut back on my overall TV time, I’m just going to multitask and use my TV time more efficiently. Wish me luck!

4 comments:

  1. Girl, 2 hours of tv is a week is an accident for disaster! haha.

    Your going to end up binging on tv from cutting yourself off! On a snowy day you will end up on your couch ALL day catching up on dvr. (At least, I would.)

    Does it count if it is educational? Like, the Doctors...or Jersey Shore? ;)
    GOOD LUCK!

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  2. That's a ridiculous goal. Biggest Loser alone is 2 hours a week.

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  4. So...about that two hour goal...I've already failed miserably. It's the thought that counts, right?

    Jess - Biggest Loser is 30 minutes tops once you fast forward through commercials, crying, and Jillian's so called 'Pep Talks' :)

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