Before you ask, no I did not entirely cut TV out of my life permanently. Instead, whenever I found myself feeling bored or having a little bit of extra free time, I put down the remote and picked up a book. Before I came to college, I loved reading. Every chance I had I would have my nuzzled into a book. But once I came to college I found I had less time to read. I took advantage of the time I had during the summer to start reading more because every college student knows that once classes roll around, there won’t be much time to do anything let alone read for fun. With all that being said, here are a handful things I learned this summer when I turned off the electronics and picked up a book!
I don’t ever feel bored. This lesson surprised me a lot because I used to think of reading as a tedious task. Whenever my friends were busy or if I was bored, I would stay at home cuddled up with a book. I would become so consumed with the book that I would become detached with the outside world. I was completely distracted from my original mood of disinterest and lack of energy.
I feel smarter. I’m not saying that swapping an episode of Gilmore Girls for a chapter in a book made me turn into Einstein overnight. However, it did give me the satisfaction that I was doing something productive rather than staring aimlessly at a screen for who knows how many episodes. I felt more accomplished reading a few chapters instead of watching a few episodes.
Books are easy entertainment. Instead of worrying whether or not I will have wifi to watch a TV show or Netflix, I can just pull out a book and read it anywhere regardless of the internet connection available. A huge plus is that books are quite a bit smaller than TVs, so chances are your book will be easy to throw into a bag or backpack, unless you have an abnormally large book.
I feel more awake. I don’t know about everyone else, but staring at a bright TV screen for hours can make me quite tired and sluggish. Since I don’t really have to use my brain to watch TV, it doesn’t keep me awake. Luckily, books require you to physically move your eyes across the page and mentally put all those words into sentences you can comprehend.
Books help you work your imagination. While watching a TV show, everything is very straightforward. You can see what the characters look like, you hear the tone of what they are saying, and can follow along with the plot given to you. While reading, a lot is up to your own imagination. Yes, authors will describe characters and situations but it is up to you to create that mental picture in your head. Many times when you compare a book to its movie counterpart, your own creative interpretation ends up being better than ones you would see on TV or in movies.
Throughout my summer, I believe that every time I replaced and electronic with a book, I was improving my quality of life. Instead of mindlessly watching TV and staring at a screen, I was doing something more productive and thought-provoking. Over the course of the summer, I was able to completely read four books! I don’t know if it would have even been possible for me to finish two TV series during the summer. I would definitely suggest that everyone tries swapping their electronics with a book! It doesn’t have to mean that you can’t watch TV ever again, and it can mean anything as small as between every episode of a show, you read a chapter of a book. Try it out for an hour, a day, a week, a month, whatever you are capable of. I promise you’ll be glad you shut yourself out of the electronic for a little bit.
*BONUS: Here’s a list of the four books I read this summer! I would highly suggest them to everyone!
1. The Last Lecture by Jeffrey Zaslow.
2. Wild and Free: A Hope-Filled Anthem for the Woman Who Feels She is Both Too Much and Never Enough by Jess Connolly
3. You’re Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner
4. Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling (I also recommend Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?)
5. First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung