I like to think of TV as the trendiest hallucinogen on the market. It can be used socially or privately, it sometimes makes me feel guilty but I do it anyway, it's degenerative to my health, and the second I tune in I tune out for hours at a time. Often people who find their lives unsatisfying in one aspect or another use TV as a supplement, an escape, a way to fill the void.
Are you a middle child lost in the midst of a disappointing family? Growing Pains, Modern Family, Step by Step. An invisible highschool student, confused and marginalized? Dawnson's Creek, Gossip Girl, Glee. Does your everyday work situation make you feel like you're utterly isolated, swimming in a sea of douchebags? Mary Tyler Moore, Grey's Anatomy, The Office. For me, I have always longed to belong to a self-contained group of extremely close friends but have always been too socially awkward to pull it off. Friends, Sex & the City, Will & Grace. Even fucked up reality shows like The Real World and The Jersey Shore have their wholesome camaraderie appeal. All shows about losers in all of their loserness, finding love, security and a good time in the comfort of each other. All I've ever wanted, all I've never had, and so I pretend.
Are you a middle child lost in the midst of a disappointing family? Growing Pains, Modern Family, Step by Step. An invisible highschool student, confused and marginalized? Dawnson's Creek, Gossip Girl, Glee. Does your everyday work situation make you feel like you're utterly isolated, swimming in a sea of douchebags? Mary Tyler Moore, Grey's Anatomy, The Office. For me, I have always longed to belong to a self-contained group of extremely close friends but have always been too socially awkward to pull it off. Friends, Sex & the City, Will & Grace. Even fucked up reality shows like The Real World and The Jersey Shore have their wholesome camaraderie appeal. All shows about losers in all of their loserness, finding love, security and a good time in the comfort of each other. All I've ever wanted, all I've never had, and so I pretend.
Not that television can't be constructive, mind you. In fact, an episode of TV is kinda like a reinacted parable.
The gawky child without a mother finds herself in need of maternal support when her girl scout troupe calls for a mother/daughter day. Her male guardians do the best they can to support her, but her lack of a matriarchal role model leaves her struggling. In the end her big sister steps in and the gawky child finds solace in the loving support of family. Moral of the story: You may not have everything, but you have what you need. (Shout out to my college professor, Martie Cook, who wrote that episode of Full House)
For some people, sitcoms and prime time dramas can be valuable teaching tools for life lessons; they need only watch a televised program, take mental notes, and apply what they've learned to their waking lives.
But not me.
I'm the other kind of TV fan who hooks the boob tube up to my veins, spreads out on the family sofa, and slips into a comatose trance for hours on end. I don't think I want to know the exact percentage of my life spent dazed in front of the idiot box, but I'm sure it adds up to no less than years. I am a junkie (admission is the first step on the road to recovery) addicted to living vicariously, my mind long gone while my body wastes away. Make no mistake: TV can be as deadly as heroine; it's just a slower death, and we normally die from 'complications' as opposed to a direct OD. TV Guide should come with a warning in big bold letters on the front page:
CAUTION: may replace reality.
The gawky child without a mother finds herself in need of maternal support when her girl scout troupe calls for a mother/daughter day. Her male guardians do the best they can to support her, but her lack of a matriarchal role model leaves her struggling. In the end her big sister steps in and the gawky child finds solace in the loving support of family. Moral of the story: You may not have everything, but you have what you need. (Shout out to my college professor, Martie Cook, who wrote that episode of Full House)
For some people, sitcoms and prime time dramas can be valuable teaching tools for life lessons; they need only watch a televised program, take mental notes, and apply what they've learned to their waking lives.
But not me.
I'm the other kind of TV fan who hooks the boob tube up to my veins, spreads out on the family sofa, and slips into a comatose trance for hours on end. I don't think I want to know the exact percentage of my life spent dazed in front of the idiot box, but I'm sure it adds up to no less than years. I am a junkie (admission is the first step on the road to recovery) addicted to living vicariously, my mind long gone while my body wastes away. Make no mistake: TV can be as deadly as heroine; it's just a slower death, and we normally die from 'complications' as opposed to a direct OD. TV Guide should come with a warning in big bold letters on the front page:
CAUTION: may replace reality.
I've tried to quit the stuff so many times, but the habit never breaks for long. Sooner or later, usually when I sit down or stop moving, the cravings kick in from the back of my mind like, I wonder what's on right now. Every time I walk into my living room I run the risk of picking up the remote and watching another hit. I die there, right on the couch, a little more with every episode. TV is actually killing me.
Writing this down makes me want to go find my real-life friends, people I can talk to who will actually converse in kind, people who will hug me back, and people who will make life as fun and interesting as the ones I see on TV.
I need to get out of the house more. In fact, I need to get out every single day. Time to take this project out of the basement and into the light (day, moon, lime or other). I'm going to Bianca's now.
Day 25. TFR. SYT.
Day 25. TFR. SYT.
No comments:
Post a Comment