Now, of course, I'm not talking about the obvious health problems of constant television viewing. But I'm talking about television possible affect on our mental health. I guess I should at least explain my experience.

Okay, at the beginning of this year, I had decided to quit watching television, for good. For many, many reasons. Some I had when I decided to quit, and some I've just now realized that I had but didn't think about it then. I was sixteen then. Of course, the plan went into effect sooner because I saw the worse show ever (Reno 911). I had instantly lost my pleasure from television with that. (Which was for the best). I would describe Reno 911 more or less as the straw the broke the camel's back because I had previously read many convincing views against television, and almost zero convincing views for it.
So, yeah, I did stop watching television. And I of course was able to replace the television with better things. Like creating things like websites or playing games(video, board, doesn't matter to me) to pass the time. Of course, as time passed on, I just started feeling better and better.
This is what I can think of happening to me;

• A slowly dying fear of driving and other things like dogs or people who want to kill me
• Feeling more comfortable in my own house (though sleeping without locked doors is still far away)
• Better eating (more free time = more time to cook)
• Better sleep
• Removed television and video games out of my bedroom
• Better relationships with other people
• Better opinion of myself and others too

• No longer caught up with finding a girlfriend

I could keep going on and on, but I'm not at all saying that this will all happen to you if you choose to quit television. You do have to deal with other factors too. But I see these results in me, and I see other people. I see people who seem to be afraid of something that's somewhat irrational, like a school shooting, or they are really shallow because their dream man is Tom Cruise, because he's "attractive" and in a really unrealistic way(that's right! Lighting and good camera angles!). Of course, this is from my point of view, that is the way I see people who watch loads of television. Not all of them, some of them.

Really, it bothers me that people are so caught up with television, that they seem to listen to it too much. My mom won't eat catfish anymore because she saw a show that said that they'll eat anything. Everyone is free to have their feeling on something, but it seems sad to base something by what you see from television. Oprah had a show about red colored juice being "bad for your health" and my mom tried to stop buying red colored juice because of that. Some kids have a school shooting, people (including me in the past) become afraid of the rare happening in the schools and crappy news reports and even crappier measures are taken to stop school shootings. All are examples I see, often.

Then the people who seem to expect others to live up to the actors they see daily on television. Really, I may not be "cool" but I am nice. It seems like some people have a major fixation with unreal attractiveness. That and a obsession with finding a mate in life. Every television show has an "item" and it's annoying when you see people in real life kissing like they're about to die, but to then see on television was too much! Here, I was wanting girlfriend almost because it seemed expected. And I suffered because of that. Feeling unwanted for love and the kind of love you want is usually overly conditional really hurts. Been there, done that. Now, I live my life girlfriend or not, but I still see people with a really messed up view on relationships. I used to envy other guys who had a girlfriend, now I pity them because for some reason, the girl always wants to make out all the time.

Now, this isn't a rant, but I see people who do stuff like that and it's sad. I'm not saying that television is totally to blame for problems, but, doesn't at least irritate pre-existing emotional or mental issues/status?

I can see girls who could easily qualify for Separation Anxiety Disorder, and other people who have eating disorders from wanting to be thin and attractive, kids who may feel like they aren't being listened to because their parents listen to Oprah before their own kid, people who can't function in school or other buildings from news of murders, school shootings, terrorist bombings, and just in general low self esteem and bad perceptions of our world, therefore, unhappiness.

I want to know what people here think about television and if they believe if television can have a negative affect on people's minds.

Feel free to ask me things back, I am in a great mood for a equally great discussion.

As a random piece of info, looking at clouds is so much fun!