I wasn't feeling like TV directly prevented me from doing anything else, but it still felt like a big relief when I finally sold my TV. It didn't feel like it was stealing any of my time, still, my daily activities at home changed to something that feels much more productive and healthy. I read more, and spend more time with my personal projects. TV is sneaky, you don't realize how much time of your life it consumes.

Glad the change is working for you. There's definitely such a thing as overdoing TV binges. But all of us need to be cautious about ditching a legitimate entertainment and relaxation medium because it's not "productive", productivity isn't the only goal in life. It's OK to chill out and recharge!

(Not in any way criticising you - just the community here often appears obsessed with maximising personal output and I think jeez just relax sometimes guys!!)

The bigger point is TV is a poor way to ‘chill and recharge’. It zaps your creative process, deadens your judgment, and isolates you from those around.

Reading, conversation with friends/family, poetry, painting, sitting and enjoying a good meal/cigar etc... all have the quality of chill and recharge without the negative effects of TV.

I'll go out on a limb here and defend TV: I think this is a somewhat-outdated view of television.

Modern television isn't just The Big Bang Theory anymore. The line between cinema and television is quickly blurring, with television shows like Chernobyl that are essentially very long films. Even "regular television" can be incredibly enlightening, with shows like Planet Earth exposing us to parts of our own world we might never see otherwise and our imagination might not even do justice!

And much like cinema, sure the experience itself is somewhat isolating in that you're trying to pay attention to it and not converse with those around you. But what's beneficial about some television shows are the emotions they inspire, the conversation they generate after, the fantastical thoughts that come later while you process what you saw.

Sure, garbage exists on television in the same way that pulp fiction (i.e. low-quality literature) never really died out. But I don't think it's fair to dismiss the medium any more than it's fair to dismiss film or literature.

Yeah I don't see it as competing with other "wholesome" activities (cigars?!), just: don't beat yourself up for enjoying a bit of low-effort, passive entertainment!

Personally I find decent TV shows a great way to unwind after a busy day, but of course YMMV.

Maybe I didnt express myself well enough. I didn't raise the issue of spending too much time in front of television to promote 24/7 productivity, not at all. I know quite well how important it is to just chill out and wind down. However, most TV programs that I was watching before I quit it completely felt like they were slowly poisoning me with stupidity. It is really the lack of quality and frankly, intelligence, that drove me away from classical TV.

Sounds like we are in agreement. And yes there's a world of difference between world-class TV drama and the dross that fills much of the airwaves that frankly perhaps should come with some sort of health warning...

I don’t agree. Watching tv and browsing social media just temporarily heightens the mood, but then tampers of very quickly. That time could be spend doing something useful like following a hobby, because that increases overall happiness.

Arguably, framing someone's life behavior as functions of usefulness is antithetical to the need to engage in recreation. The following of TV is useful if your social sphere is amongst other people who watch TV. It builds a canon in which to socialize, discuss, invite people for watching parties, etc.

(I myself do not watch tv but I also have no desire to presume anything of people who do. I at least personally acutely feel a loss of culture because TV and movie watching is very common in socialization rituals and I am unable to engage in them.)

There are better ways to socialize and watching television should be the last one. Talking with other people about movies and television shows is superficial and won’t help in bonding with them, because your personality lacks depth.

People have said this about every media since the book was invented.

Is it wrong, though? If you spend all day doing nothing but reading books, you're not using the time to apply anything that you have read in a book

That's how I feel about programming books.

Did someone measure it and proved them wrong?

I am not saying you are wrong, or he is, but the ancientness of the claim is not an argument in favor or against it

Both function much like a drug: pleasant in small quantities, but easily creating a feedback loop that results in it dominating your behavior. Some people appear to be more susceptible to it than others.

The neural mechanisms have a lot in common. Video games, I would note, also share that mechanism.

I take ~1 hour of TV most evenings as a sedative.