What is it that so many people have against watching TV? After all what harm can this cute little box that looks so innocent, so relaxing and so entertaining do?

In some ways watching TV is very similar to eating sweets. It is great as long as you ‘consume’ it in small quantities. An hour in front of the TV is fun and relaxing. Two hours are still enjoyable and engaging. Three hours -and you start fidgeting on the sofa, because your body craves some activity. Four hours – and here is what happens:

I know that spending your evening in front of a flat screen TV may be your perfect idea of entertainment, relaxation and how to spend your free time. But those 4 and a half hours daily that you watch TV add up to months and years, taking your focus away from your family, friends, health goals, and hobbies. If watching TV does not add any noticeable value to your life, it becomes a time waster.

Every hour we spend dozing off in front of the TV, is an hour that other people use for studying, reading, exercising, writing a book, learning to play a musical instrument or creating something new. While they are improving their lives and achieving their goals, we are falling further and further behind on ours. I am not saying that we should use every second of our life efficiently. I am saying that we should use it to become a little bit happier, a little bit wiser and a little bit more compassionate. Watching TV accomplishes none of these.

Picture a typical modern family: mother in the kitchen, watching TV, while cooking dinner, dad in the living room, watching a soccer match or the 8 o’clock news, son in his room playing computer games or watching a new video on YouTube.

Instead of spending quality time together like we used to, we spend it in front of the TV. And it is not just my personal impression. A recent study found that when the TV is on — even if it is just in the background — parents interact less with their kids and between themselves.

Think about watching a great movie and not munching on anything. Especially when you see all those mouthwatering commercials of grilled shrimp cooked to a crisp or layers of milk chocolate covering a Snicker bar? No wonder the latest studies have demonstrated that people who watch 3 hours of TV per day are twice as likely to become obese than those who watch it for just an hour a day. So if you would like to lose some extra weight, you might want to consider losing your TV first.

Watching TV puts the viewer into a highly suggestive trance-like hypnotic state, which provides easy access to our subconscious and noticeably decreases your ability to critically analyze all the incoming information. This makes you an easy target for more than 50,000 TV commercials that you are exposed to in a year.