Brain rot, poor eyesight, lower IQs, prone to violent tendencies. No, it’s not a list of symptoms of a flesh-eating parasite or random disease; it’s a list of reasons people give for not having a TV in their home. With 99% of the United States having at least one television set in their household with various types of programming and all of the wonderful new Direct TV deals, it’s hard to imagine that people like that still exist in the world, but they do.
And chances are they take every opportunity they can to tell you how superior their life is to yours because they have chosen to lead an enriched life away from the boob tube. That raises the question – Is life without TV really superior? The answer to which is no.
Watching TV gives you the opportunity to explore, educate and experience things that otherwise would have been hidden nuggets of knowledge locked away for only the rich and famous to experience. If you still aren’t convinced that owning a TV is the better lifestyle, here’s a look at just what you would have missed and never known about had you not owned a TV.
The Fun and Somewhat Useless Facts
The eclectic range of TV shows is your source for useless and fun facts. These are the facts that you randomly shout out on an outing with friends or while on a first date in the hopes of impressing others with your infinite knowledge filled with facts that no one else would ever dream of knowing or wanting to know.
Discovery Channel’s Myth Busters
Myth Busters takes you on a scientific journey into the world’s most popular myths and urban legends and works to uncover whether they are based in fact or just myths. They design robots to simulate humans, create experiments to represent space and other things just to get to the bottom of a myth or urban legend.
This highly informative show is the basis of many people’s useless facts and pieces of knowledge. Here’s a look at what you could learn just from tuning into an episode of Myth Busters:
- How many bugs you will eat in a lifetime
- Whether some alcoholic drinks use urine as an ingredient
- What it really feels like in space
- What cars a real life spy would have to drive to achieve top speeds
- The true origins of holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Columbus Day
Food Network’s Unwrapped
Food and TV go hand in hand. The Food Network’s Unwrapped takes you on a journey to discover the origins of the world’s most popular candies. On this hunger inducing journey, you are filled with obscure facts and knowledge about all types of candy and food companies across the world. How else would you know the answers to:
- Why Hershey Kisses have the little twist at the top?
- How French’s mustard gets that unique shade of yellow?
- Where a five-pound single gummy bear is made?
- How long the shelf life of a Hostess’ Twinkie really is?
- Where Taco Bell tests and creates their entrees before going public?
Armchair Travel to Destinations Near and Far
Unless you win the lottery, quit your job and spend your whole life traveling, chances are you wouldn’t be able to see every country and remote destination in the world. With shows on the Travel Channel, A&E, The Food Network and the Discovery Channel, you are able to experience and learn about remote destinations that you would never be able to experience in your lifetime. Here’s a look at the shows that bring you there, what pieces of information you’ll learn and what countries you’ll visit all from the comfort of your living room.
No Reservations
Channel: Travel Channel
Where You’ll Visit: All over the world from Russia, China, Singapore to your own backyard and local eateries.
What You’ll Learn: No Reservations takes you on a worldwide tour where you’ll explore exotic locations. The host, Tony Bourdain, will eat some of the world’s most exotic dishes including ox tongue, octopus eyes, and poisonous snake eggs.
Planet Earth
Channel: Discovery Channel
Where You’ll Visit: The world’s most remote natural habitats including Africa’s jungles and Australia’s oceans.
What You’ll Learn: You’ll see nature in its purest and rawest form on Planet Earth. Everything from the Amazon rainforest, Antarctica’s icebergs, and the African grasslands is showcased on this show. You’ll also get to experience and learn about the various native animals that live on these lands.
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
Channel: Food Network
Where You’ll Visit: Remote diners, drive-in restaurants and dive bars all around the United States.
What You’ll Learn: These are the places where you’d normally drive right by and not give a second glance. Guy Fieri takes you to these remote eateries and shows you the wonderful food you could be missing out on.
Heading Back to School With Remote TV Education
TV isn’t just about providing you with useless facts and ticket to the world’s most remote locations, it can also be about personal enrichment and educating yourself in areas and topics you never got the chance to learn about in school.
In many ways, the TV is like a college university filled with information and educational opportunities right at your fingertips. Here’s a look at what information and educational opportunities are just waiting for you to learn with a push of a button:
College Classes and Video Lectures
Channel: Local PBS stations
What You’ll Learn: Many local colleges broadcast video lectures and educational classes right on your local PBS station. You can learn anything from Spanish to macroeconomics from watching these video lectures. It’s like attending college without having to sit in those cramped desks for hours.
NOVA Series
Channel: Local PBS stations
What You’ll Learn: NOVA has one goal and one goal in mind; to make science and education fun. Watching this series will give you knowledge on everything from the human body to space explosions, and even some facts in between.
CONCLUSION
In the battle between TV owners and those that choose to live a life of enrichment without one, the clear winner is those that own a TV. TV watching provides too many opportunities to learn important and sometimes seemingly useless facts that you would never be able to learn about if it weren’t for the gift of the television.
So sit back, relax and absorb all the wonderful, fun and pointless facts that are beamed your way via the television. After all, who knows what you’d do or not know about if you didn’t have a TV.