Health: Is Television Triggering Your Bad Habits?

When it comes to forming better health and good habits, one of the easiest ways to overcome bad habits might be something as small as turning off the television. As much as we love our favorite shows and movies, they’re often layered with the bad habits we pick up on a daily basis. There are people out there who can achieve their goals and still watch their favorite programming, but they’re not spending hours each day focused on the digital box on their entertainment center. Television isn’t to blame for ruining your life and shutting it off won’t fix all of your bad habits, but it’s a start.

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Consider this:

70% of the human body’s sensory receptors are in the human eye. That means 70% of the information we take in on a daily basis is processed and analyzed in the things we see every day. Your brain doesn’t always have the time to stop and think about the entirety of this information so it often forms muscle memory in the form of habits. Remember the old saying “Monkey see, monkey do.” your brain is constantly playing a giant game of it throughout your day without you even noticing. How does that relate to watching television?

While television is a great form of entertainment, it’s also a tremendous form of advertising, both subtle and obvious. Sure, you can get streaming options without actual ads to interrupt your shows, but that doesn’t mean the advertising isn’t there. Let’s start with the obvious advertising. If you’re constantly watching television while hungry and find yourself running to the closest fast-food chain, you’re never going to achieve your goal of losing weight right?

The television played its part in that. Yes, you can get up and make dinner after seeing an ad for food but that’s not the only trigger you’ve watched. How many television shows do you watch where they actually show someone sitting down to a meal prepped at home? In almost every show you watch, whenever someone needs to grab a bite to eat, they’re taking a trip to their local fast-food joint. It’s not directly telling you which one to go to, but you’ve watched your favorite character on tv do it, then you see an ad for McDonalds, and all of a sudden you grab your keys and go.

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It’s the same with streaming channels. Is it really that hard to believe there’s a reason Apple TV+ only uses Apple products in their programming? They want you to see your favorite characters using their devices. It has to be fresh in your mind. 70% of what you process throughout the day is through the eyes and advertisers want you to make those subconscious decisions when it comes time to buy. It’s called television programming for a reason.

Look, this isn’t a war on television. No one loves a good movie or show as much as I do. However, if the majority of your downtime is spent glued to a tv, chances are you’re picking up the bad habits by watching your favorite characters do the same ones. That’s why ads are targeted to certain demographics, during shows that demographic would watch, at the same time most people in that demographic watch tv. Your health and habits are being triggered not just by the ads you watch, but by the programs they’re attached to. You don’t have to give up television completely, but taking some time off each day might help you overcome your bad habits.