Benefits of habit “Reduce TV time”
✓ Reduces strain on eyes
✓ Allows for more sleep time
✓ Increases productivity
✓ May improve mental health
✓ Improves relationships
First step:
10 minutes per day
Progress:
1. Today, reduce your usual TV watching time by 10 minutes. Do so every day for 1 week.
2. Next week, reduce the time on TV by 20 minutes every day.
3. Keep increasing until either you don’t watch TV at all or it only takes up a fraction of your free time.
Helpful tips to make it a habit:
✓ Same time is key. If you’re already watching TV at the same time, it won’t be difficult to start decreasing it at the same time as well. It’s much easier to fall into a new routine when it’s repeated at the same time.
✓ Trigger your mind. Have an alternative to TV laid out somewhere visible as you sit in front of the screen. It can be a book, a magazine, a board game – whatever you choose, put it within your visual range.
✓ Let the app help. Set a reminder to ring whenever it’s time to stop watching TV. You may also mark the days you continued watching on the calendar in this app.
✓ Reward yourself. Once you’ve gone a full month of significantly reduced TV time, reward yourself by picking up a new activity you can now do with more time on your hands.
Tips for beginners:
✓ The content. Figure out what is it that you’re watching and why it takes so long. Is it something interesting? Something that benefits you? Or is it just mindless entertainment that you turn your brain off at? If you’re going to start reducing TV time, make sure you start with the most pointless programs first.
✓ The reasons. Why is it that you watch so much TV? Is it your only way to wind down? Do you lack ideas of what to do instead? Are you lonely and people on screen fill in the void somehow? Figure out what makes you sit in front of the screen for so long and think of the ways you could change those reasons.
✓ The extreme. If you want to do an extreme version of stopping the TV, throw it away altogether or sell it. It may be a shock at first, but the best way to stop watching TV is to do away with TV altogether.
