National TV Turnoff Week

The national "Turnoff the TV Week" runs from April 23- 29.

Some fast facts about American TV watching habits from the Center for Screen-Time Awareness:

1. The average American household has the TV turned on for more than 8 hours a day;
2. The average American watches 4 1/2 hours of television daily;
3. 50% of Americans have at least 3 TVs, and only 19% of homes have 1 TV.

And here's a shocker: the Center aligns increased television watching with obesity in children, which has increased right alongside the dependency on TV. When I was growing up, I wasn't allowed to be in the house when it was nice outside- something that's hard for parents to monitor when they're both at work.

A few years ago, I shut off my cable for more than a year, because I felt I was too dependent on television (this is not an unpopular choice in my PBS-watching family). I turned the cable back on when I heard Monday Night Football was moving to ESPN. And then somehow, over the last year, I started watching more and more TV.

My friend Ann recently asked me about my TV watching habits. Here's how I stack up:

1. I work from home, and have always liked to work with some background noise, so the TV's on all the time;
2. I work all the time, so the TV's on All The Time;
3. I start with the Today show (I told Ann this doesn't count, because it's news, after all), segue into music videos, then move into cheesy Lifetime movies (I don't care what you say, that Tori Spelling is a darn good actress), baseball and finally end up with Letterman and late night Sex & The City reruns (I already own the DVDs);
4. I only have one TV- I don't believe in having one in the bedroom;
5. My favorite shows are CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood and, Cheaters.

I was shocked to find out that my need for background noise somehow morphed into upwards of 12 hours of TV time a day, and that includes leaving to run errands, walk, go out with friends, etc. 12 hours a day! How did that happen?

So here we go. I'm throwing in my hat, and saying for the record, I won't watch TV next week. I'm hoping I'll be more productive, hear some new music, learn what's happening on Air America and maybe, just maybe, take some more time off from work. I'm hoping.

I don't know if I can survive TV turnoff week: It starts on Monday- I just checked, and that's when A&E runs the old Sopranos shows.