The Idiot Box

Someone gave this very apt name to the television - "The Idiot Box". Now TV lovers don't need to become suddenly defensive at this point. It does not mean that only idiots watch TV, however true that might be. Instead, it means that TV plays a huge role in making people "brain-dead", i.e. TV makes "idiots" out of perfectly normal, capable, and intelligent human beings.

This is not to say that TV is an evil that should be removed from every household, but just to point out that each of us spend endless hours in front of the "idiot box" rendering ourselves more and more brain-dead, and hence we need to make sure that we use this invention for our good rather than our let it lead us to waste half our lives.

When I suggest this idea to some people, the only thing they have to compare it with, is reading books. Now, not watching TV is not the equivalent of being a book worm. I, myself, have read less books in my life than the number of toes on my right foot. However, spending four years at LUMS (my university) has taught me how much better life can be without television!

However, people staying at home might argue that it is only time-pass. The problem with that is that it is a very addictive form of time-pass, and I myself can also sometimes find it difficult to turn it off once I start watching. One of the most addicting things on TV nowadays is movies, especially Indian movies. You would have watched that movie ten times before, but still find it difficult to change the channel or turn off the TV when you see Kajol trying to grab Shahrukh's hand on a running train!

The solution? Not starting in the first place. One might ask, what better way to spend my free time than watching TV? Doing anything, be it hanging out with friends, reading a newspaper, reading a book, reading blogs, playing sports, or even spending time with your family is much better than watching TV... Don't believe me? Try it for a week.

Thanks to the idiot box, finding "quality time" with your family has also become a myth. I work in Lahore while my parents live in Multan. I am able to make the 5-hour journey about twice a month to come home to my parents. When I am in Lahore, it is the distance that separates us. When I am in Multan, it is the idiot box. The irony of it all is that we are all sitting in one room, even as I type this post, and yet all the eyes are glued to the TV screen, on which re-incarnated Shahrukh Khan is trying to take revenge of the love of his previous life, as is the case in half the Indian movies. Gone is the hope of spending quality time with family. So, while TV has the power of bringing the family together to one room, it also has the ending any and all possibilities of "quality time" with family.