Two

On the very first day of 2009, I spent around six hours watching television. Well, I woke up around noon, as normal college-attending-twenty-something-year-olds-on-winter-break often do. The next two-or-so hours were spent either "lunching," which consisted of picking through leftovers from the New Year party that was held chez moi, or "lounging," which consisted of flipping through a magazine with occasional but frequent glances out of my living room window from an incapacitatingly comfortable position on my living room couch ("I wonder how cold it is out there today?"). Then I decided (although truthfully, my experiment decided for me) to make a trip to the lab. Thankfully, I wasn't there for too long, and returned home promptly to resume my occupation on the faithful leather sofa. I turned on the TV.

I watched the Rose Bowl, followed by the Orange Bowl - with snips of Family Feud, some movie on comedy central, and a classical music performance by the Vienna Philharmonic on PBS. I'm sure there was a more productive way to spend the premier day of the year than my tube-glued experience, but I just so happened to enjoy every minute of it. Simply, with several stimulating programs to watch and only an afternoon to do so, how could I have done anything else? Now, before I feel guilty for remaining within a three-foot radius from the center of my seat during half of my time of consciousness on January first of 2009, I must mention that I hadn't watched any television in the three days beforehand - so really, I was averaging one-and-a-half hours per day. Did you know that, surprisingly, children in the US now spend a daily average of over four hours in front of the TV (quite frightening). Unsurprisingly, this increase corresponds to the currently climbing rates of obesity (several studies have been published which confirm this correlation).

So from today's experience, I guess I can suggest one way to curb the rise of the obesity epidemic - by making television programs less entertaining. Realistic? Probably not. But maybe it would divert attention away from the incredibly boring television set and out the living room window. Maybe one not-too-skinny kid will be curious ("I wonder how cold it is out there today?").

Ah, who am I kidding? People need their MTV, and I need my QVC.

On that note, I hope everyone had a happy New Year.

-B