![Banksy. [Source]](https://exiledstardust.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/banksytelevision.jpg)
Banksy. [Source]
This particular reason for not watching TV resonated with me:
It is taking you away from the real people all around you. The characters on television are not real. They are thought up in an office building and given life on a piece of paper. In contrast, you are surrounded everyday by real people living real lives. These real people are facing real problems. They need you. And you need them.
Have you ever met people who can’t seem to talk about anything other than what they saw on TV? I meet them all the time. How much of our lives do we waste watching fake stories about fake people, soaking up advertising slogans and piss-poor values, rather than living our own lives, getting to know real people, and thinking our own thoughts?
Read the whole article here. (Skip the stupid comments; they seem to be unmoderated.)
Exiled Stardust 
I liked Jerry Mander (not a fake name) ‘s “Four Arguments For the Elimination of Television” a great deal.
I’ll have to read that.
He worked with Howard Gossage at his very unusual advertising agency and was responsible for the advertising campaign that kept the Grand Canyon from being dammed, as well. Interesting history.
“Have you ever met people who can’t seem to talk about anything other than what they saw on TV?” Malestream feMANism is all about this. Check out Bitch Flicks, Bitch Magazine, Feminist Frequency etc etc. Liberal feminism is obsessed with pop culture to a weird degree.
To be fair, I think they’re analyzing pop culture because it exists all around us.
They are too obsessed though. Many of these writers are fan girls, pop culture junkies and critics first and feminists second.
I do know people who seem to be obsessed with what they watch on television. I watch it sometimes, but not so frequently that it takes time away from the real world around me. I watch things that interest me, and I usually watch things that give me new perspectives and insight. I watch news on current events, documentaries, or fiction shows that I think are well-acted (Breaking Bad, for example). I try to watch things that give me inspiration or teach me something.
There’s some useful stuff on TV occasionally. Documentaries and things like that. My point wasn’t to make people feel bad about watching, merely to point out that TV is addictive, and we as a society depend on it way too much.
I totally agree. It can be incredibly addicting. It also worries me when kids watch television too much. It becomes a habit, and children need to learn how to entertain themselves without television. Our society definitely depends on it too much. We become disconnected from the real world because of it.