Who am I kidding? The plan – cancelling my tv service for improved mental and physical health – has failed miserably. Even as few as ten years ago the implementation of that decision would have been obvious much sooner. Not these days, though, when I carry around a mini transmitter/receiver everywhere.
Am I moving more? Perhaps…to and from the phone charger for sure. (For a few more days I can blame it on the weather). Am I snacking less? It’s a bit more challenging to eat while using the phone than it was while watching television, but practice makes perfect.
Am I cooler, calmer and more collected? Nope.
The ‘why’ is a bit messy. Light-hearted uplifting programming can be found on TV with some effort, but those shows didn’t always air in times that fit my schedule. Much of TV revolves around news and reality programs; neither is appealing to me in 24/7 doses when ratings rule over undoctored facts.
Unfortunately the TV is not the major culprit in my quest to be a healthy and productive senior citizen. It is my addiction to this portable screen I am typing on now. It is certainly possible to use it for work and leisure and not get sucked in, but my brakes failed. I don’t sit in my rocking chair staring mindlessly at the television set; I rock mindlessly as I swipe a screen that takes up greater chunks of time than the television set ever did.
Those chunks of time are getting creepier, too. The technology seems to spy on my activities, listen to my conversations, track my wanderings and bombard me with increasingly horrific events. The customizing of my feeds lures me into using the screen even more to escape what I can’t fix.
Enough already. Time to tackle a different strategy for optimal boomer health and happiness. I want live, face-to-face connections to reign… no, not via Facebook live and video chat but via in-the-flesh, reach-out-and-touchable interactions. I hear humans make great pals and playing with my cat vs watching cat videos has benefits for both me and the cat.
Now a record player occupies the space my television once did. No shortage of vinyl around here, so the cat and I have a music backdrop for our fun and games.
