What is the #1 Time Sucker in our Completely Non-scientific Facebook Survey?
Answer: Social media.
BUT . . .
What is the #1 Time Sucker in our "Completely Non-scientific Survey for People Who DON'T use Social Media" Survey?
The overwhelming majority answered Television.
New Survey Question: Is web surfing while watching TV considered multi-tasking or double time wasting?
(Triple points for responding during a commercial break while simultaneously texting, tweeting, and posting across the virtual world.)
In March 2014 I publicly admitted my weakness, a late night TV and junk food comfort zone.
We cut the cable, and I thought I'd broken free.
Does anyone else succumb to the lure of mindless TV viewing?
Raise your remote if you identify with any of the following:
"I sit down to watch one show, but wind up viewing for hours."
"I use TV to avoid disagreeable tasks like . . . pretty much anything."
"I eat mindlessly in front of the TV."
"I make late-night food runs based on the commercials." (Dang you, Snickers bars!)
"I fall asleep in front of the TV."
Try these tips to demolish the dastardly TV Time-Sucker:
- Strap an electric eel to the remote.
- Replace TV with fun physical activities, like bike riding, dancing, or chasing stray panda bears through your neighborhood.
- Meet a friend and enjoy real live human interaction. Sitting silently side by side while texting doesn't count. Use face to face, not Facebook interaction.
- Have a family fun night. In good weather, go outside. Kids are incredibly imaginative when given a chance. Inside or out, fort building with old sheets is a classic.
- Seek creative outlets. Draw, write, act out a play, build a birdhouse. Build an outhouse. Make mud pies with the kids.
- Get to know your loved ones better with question games like "Never Have I Ever." (For those who played it as a drinking game, leave out the booze!)
Warning: some people, like my husband, enjoy these games as much as walking barefoot on hot BBQ coals. After two rounds Jake reacts like he's in a Nazi interrogation chamber.
Jake: "Stop questioning me!"
Me: "You vill tell me if never haff you ever schkinny dipped, ya? Mach schnell!"
- Most important, pray first. Ask the Lord for guidance, ideas, and strength.
Make TV time meaningful, not mindless.
The night would have been even better if I'd gone to bed after the movie instead of falling asleep on the sofa watching Twilight Zone reruns.
Back to praying Psalm 138.