If you are a fan of 30 Rock, then you’ll get my cultural reference for the title of this post.  If not, you’re a better person than I am.  I was researching the top time wasters (Facebook, playing games on your phone or computer, commuting and email in case you’re wondering), but far and away the top time waster I found was TV. This probably shouldn’t come as a surprise, cause I’m prone to veg out in front of the tube as much as anyone.  Or so I thought. Until I saw the statistics of average TV usage.  Click on the picture to see it full size.

According a report by the BLS American Time Use Survey by A.C. Nielsen Co, the average American spends 5.11 hours in front of the TV a DAY!  Not a week, a day.  Now I gotta tell ya, I find this a little hard to believe.  Who has a spare 5 hours/day?  I know I don’t.  But if I did I think I’d be really sad if I spent it watching that much TV.  Plus, doesn’t anyone else get a sore bum after sitting so long?  No?  Just me?  Ok, I’ll move on.

Here’s another statistic I found startling.  You burn fewer calories while watching TV than almost anything in the known universe.  The only activity that burns fewer calories is sleeping.  Even sitting up and reading a book burns more!  Here’s a little chart to give you some perspective (click chart to see full size):

So by exchanging one hour of TV watching with say one hour of walking my Chihuahua I’ll burn an extra 300 plus calories, plus get some fresh air and check out the neighbor’s yards (all cuter than mine). Sounds like a better use of time than mindlessly watching Walter White “cook” his blue specialty (ok, so I am still mourning the ending of that particular time waster.)

I’m not saying cut out all TV.  There are some days that’s all I have the energy to do.  The point is, evaluate how you are spending your time.   I hear all the time from my customers how there just isn’t enough time in the day to get everything done.  And I agree.  I feel like I run from one thing to the next.  This may or may not be one of those time wasters for you.  But if it is, according to A.C. Nielsen, you might be able to claim back up to 5 hours by Breaking this Bad habit (get it?  Oh nevermind).

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