My TV time is usually limited to about two or three hours per night. I usually work from about 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. (with breaks for meals, etc) but I’m not complaining since I love what I do.
Anyway, I’d have to say that about 90% of my TV viewing consists of programs that I have recorded with my DISH Network Vip622 DVR. It’s reached the point where I can barely stand watching TV in real time because of all the commercials. I usually end up spending 45 or so minutes watching an hour-long program when I skip through the commercials. That adds up to a significant time-saver when you tally up a whole week, or maybe even a month!
I suppose it would not be so bad if they didn’t show the same commercials over and over again, and make an effort to make them more interesting and less “dumbed down.” By the way, why is it that in so many commercials, the dad is always depicted as the buffoon of the family? If you’ve never noticed that, keep in mind and watch for it next time you see a few commercials.
I digress, but what else is new? Last night I watched a program called Obsessed. It was on the A&E channel, and since I had run out of other programs to watch, I decided to check it out. The program, as one might surmise from the name, is about people who have some kind of obsessive disorder. OCD seems to be the disorder that is talked about more than others these days, but the program I watched last night was a little different.
It was about a fellow in his late 50’s who had agoraphobia. Unfortunately, his two daughters also suffered from the same condition, which was most-likely passed down from their father.
I always thought agoraphobia prevented people from leaving their homes at all, but in the case of this fellow and his daughters, they could all leave their houses and travel a certain distance in the car before they reached the limit of their “comfort zone.” Each one of them had a different comfort zone and would become extremely stressed out if they ventured outside of it.
You could tell from watching the reactions of these people that this was no joke. They were clearly very agitated and stressed out when they forced themselves to leave their comfort zones under the direction of a therapist who treated them by forcing them to confront their fears gradually until they were able to overcome them.
By the end of the program, both the guy and his two daughters had made remarkable progress and were venturing well beyond their old comfort zones. This was a pretty big deal for people who previously felt trapped by an irrational fear that something bad would happen to them if they wandered too far from home.
Years ago, people with problems like that might have been simply dismissed as “kooks” and had to endure the restrictions that the illness would have imposed upon them. We’ve come a long way over the years when it comes to recognizing these types of disorders as diseases that can be treated and that the victims are not “kooks” or “crazy” at all.
I was a little skeptical when I decided to check out the program, but it turned out to be more interesting than I thought and I am glad I took the time to check it out. In case your wondering how it ended up on my DVR, it was a program that my wife recorded. I cannot stand most of the stuff she watches, but once in a while I have to give her credit for ferreting out something good.
Do you suppose that’s part of the reason that us dads are so often portrayed as buffoons in all those commercials?
A statement by DISH CEO Charlie Ergen makes it clear that this was a goal that the company had its sites set on for some time.
