Our childhood would have been a living prison. If you indulged in Ekta Kapoor’s Saas Bahu serials, you have a missed a great part of your life which was meant to be lived. Games and soaps were introduced to get people involved into some activity away from regular, hectic schedule. Children slowly started staying back at home rather than going out and playing, completely missing out on physical activities.
About 85% of students who live in hostels say that the most they miss is watching television – The Soap Addiction. This is a major reason why students leaving for colleges by staying away from home deteriorate in studies. Greater amounts of gaming, lower social competence, and greater impulsivity seem to act as risk factors for becoming pathological gamers. Whereas depression, anxiety, social phobias, and lower school performance seemed to act as outcomes of pathological gaming. Life is too short to sit in front of television or play games and spend it doing nothing.
The objective is to come out of this addiction. Which doesn’t include totally eliminating them from your life. Here are ways to adopt to form a healthy lifestyle:
Set out a rule for yourself:
Being a lifestyle discipline by simple rules for a better life. Set a rule so as not to touch the remote or the Play Station if you haven’t completed reading 30 pages of a book. The idea is to accomplish a menial task before rewarding yourself that hour’s entertainment in front of the television.
No meals with television ON:
Addiction is a slow process. Channel surfing while eating dinner for a start, and then we get glued to a particular show, and another show and another, leading to binge watching. Firstly we lose concentration on eating, and then we get sucked into the wonderment of television. Better yet, have dinner peacefully, with the telly off, and then you can catch that show you always wanted to watch. Nowadays we get DVRs to record any show at anytime, so you can put shows on record and have dinner with your loved ones with some familial banter.
Spend time with your friends and family:
Talking about your day and lending your ears and attention to your loved ones is another way of not only avoiding watching television for the sake of it. But also to engage and bond with your family. Little things like these go a long way to show that you care. If can crack some mean spirited jokes with your family and get laughter going, then this will definitely turn out to be more entertaining than the awful gibberish on TV.
Explore the outdoors:
No matter our age, we are dynamic at heart and we are social beings. Meeting old mates or catching up with acquaintances are nice ways to spend insipid evenings. Take that long walk you always wanted to, may be with some company.
Clean your house, cook meals:
Setting stuff right around the house can sometimes be therapeutic. DIY projects are heaven sent to engage yourself in creative work as well as to get the satisfaction of turing useless material into beautiful workable stuff at home. Cook meals, experiment with different recipes, surprise your friends.
Exercise:
Exercise or relax through meditation. Get in touch with your spiritual side.