Thursday, August 14, 2014

do you like the people you're spending your evenings with?

No, i'm not going to encourage you to leave your partner and desert your kids.  :-)  I'm going to encourage you to turn the television off.

We were settling into a pattern with the grandkids at our house, when unhappy news reached us from Texas -- their great-grandmother had gone into the hospital for a routine procedure, but had taken a turn for the worse and passed away.  Thank goodness for modern technology -- their mother told them via FaceTime, and she and their dad were able to comfort the little ones themselves!  We had an appointment on Monday we shouldn't miss, but drove back to the Houston area on Tuesday with one day free before attending the funeral.

After the joys of greeting their parents and dogs, sleeping in their own beds, and seeing their bereaved grandmother, one of the things they got enthusiastic about was seeing the recorded episode of a favorite television show.  Now, my husband and I don't find reality shows entertaining, but we join the family in the living room and play games on our ipads while the rest watch and comment.  Enough content seeps into our consciousness that we have a rough idea of what's going on.

As I was composing my mind to sleep last night, I was thinking about the screen people -- and I concluded that if I knew them in real life, I wouldn't like their personalities or find them interesting at all.  Why on earth would I care to spend an evening with them?  Am I a hopeless intellectual snob?  I don't THINK so -- I've gotten along well with a wide variety of types during my 59 years!  These characters, though, display so much ego in the presence of so little apparent QUALITY ... and express themselves so abrasively, I have to wonder why they're so widely watched -- why people want to spend so many hours of their leisure time with them.

The people with whom we spend our time have a big influence on us.  Not only do we tend to mirror each other's personal styles of behavior and speech, but each other's moods and manners of thinking.  Mood is deeply contagious!  Being around cheerful people helps us feel cheerful, and depressed people tend to bring us down too.  The old adage that "whoever lies down with dogs is apt to get up with fleas" is very true.

So can we expect to maintain a good attitude when we're around discontented, petty, self-aggrandizing, bitchy people?  I maintain ... NOT.  If we want to BE better people, we need to hang around with better people.  That includes our choices of entertainment.

10 comments:

  1. I think my previous comment didn't go through, dammit, it was long. I totally get this. I watch a LOT of night time tv, but I have a standard; if there isn't at least one 'good' person I can root for, I drop the show. I don't give a rat's ass how water-cooler popular the show might be. Life is too short and precious to waste hours watching nothing but jack asses.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :-) same with movies and books! i'm sorry your longer comment didn't "take" -- i'd have liked to see it!

      Delete
  2. Some otherwise good shows are too raw or the characters too despicable for me to continue watching. That said, I've loved some shows with dark protagonists: Breaking Bad and the second season of Death Note come to mind. A real-life Gus, Walt or Mello would scare the bejesus out of me, but they were fascinating on screen.

    My beef is having to suspend every ounce of disbelief: a bright, attractive, successful young woman falling for an old, broken-down, disfunctional man (because there's nobody else to date in Paris or New York), mouthy ten-year-olds who are smarter than their parents, or anything on a soap opera.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. if i disliked "darkness" i wouldn't enjoy Tim Burton's stuff as much as i do. ;-) but i have a problem with shows that try to hard to manipulate my emotions, as even Deadwood did. i liked the first couple of seasons of Dexter before it started to pall on me, and Walking Dead was okay though it wasn't as witty as i prefer.... no, i have to say, i really do prefer comedy!

      Delete
  3. When we lose family or friends it is sad, it is upsetting but in those times we recall good times and good memories (I hope).

    As for reality TV shows and the like ....sorry not my thing.

    Thinking of you all

    All the best Jan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i didn't know "Nana" very well, but my daughter and grandkids were very attached to her! she'll be missed.

      Delete
  4. I've never been a big tv fan but about two years ago I got so pissed off with what I saw on the tube, I cut my cable and haven't watched any tv. I've since retired and don't miss the tv at all. My morning ritual includes checking BBC news for what's new in the world, then checking all my fav blogs/forums and then getting on with my life. It'll be me living it with those I love, not with some obnoxious and stupid people.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. if it weren't for Netflix and the vintage and foreign shows on it, i probably wouldn't use the television for anything but DVDs. :-) i do love my movies!

      Delete
  5. "Am I a hopeless intellectual snob?"
    No, just a sad, septic dim bulb.
    :)
    I haven't had a tv for over 30 years, nor do I read any newspapers (or news sites for that matter). I cut out the radio, too, about 10 years ago. Saves lots of time (and anguish).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :-) but i'd have to cut out the internet, too, if i wanted to get ALL the bad news out of my life.

      isn't it interesting, how that "bright bulb" feels the need to counter each and every comment on Wooo's blog, all the while emailing her on how he respects and doesn't want to offend her! although his comments to US imply that he thinks his opinion is impactful, it seems to me OUR opinions of HIM tend to hit tender spots....

      Delete