What happens when the screen in the corner goes blank? No Bart, Sabrina, Ross, Rachel, Jennifer or Phoebe, Les or Curley . . .
Next week, consumers are being urged to participate in a global experiment to live life rather than watch it. Tomorrow until next Saturday has been dubbed TV Turn-off Week.
Organised by Adbusters Media Foundation (a global network of artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators, entreprenuers based in Vancouver, Canada), the week is "all about the mental environment - the idea that, like our oceans and air, our shared mindscape is littered with distractions, irritants, and pollutants. The goal is simply to get people thinking about the clutter in their mental space."
A recent survey of Irish dietary and exercise habits, conducted by the Irish University's Nutrition Alliance, found that Irishmen watch about 19 hours of TV a week, with Irishwomen just one hour off this total. RTE's figures are slightly higher at 3.08 hours a day for adults and 2.78 hours a day for children.
So what are punters to do without the TV? Adbusters suggest finding a few used televisions and holding a TV smashin, or heading out on a pub crawl with a difference - bringing a universal remote control and zapping TVs wherever you go. More mundane suggestions include getting together with a group of TV-addicted friends and going bowling, checking out live music or a play, attending a town hall meeting or organising a street theatre performance.
Clinical psychologist Dr Marie Murray advises that the week could be counter-productive for addicts who do not plan ahead. "Research shows the TV addicts go into intense withdrawal in a manner similar to other addicts trying to break their habit. One study, where families turned off their TVs for several months, found people sat in front of their blank screens, in the early stages, as they didn't know what to do."
PEOPLE will experience irritability and, if they feel the week is not a success, they will go back to TV viewing with renewed energy, warns Dr Murray. "If you plan to participate, then you should identify your favourite programmes. If you are a Corrie addict then you need to have organised alternative activities for Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7.30 p.m. so you don't just sit there wondering what's happening."
People who are really serious about giving up a substance need to remove that substance from their environment. So, she suggests giving the TV leads to a friend, who must promise not to release no matter how hard you beg. "People may view this idea light-heartedly but they'll be stunned to find how difficult it is to give it up," she says. TV has led to a loss of imagination and all of the families who gave up television reported positive lifestyle benefits.
The IUNA survey found that, on average, overweight and obese respondents spent two to three hours a week more time in TV viewing and less time in vigorous active pursuits than non-overweight respondents.
TV3's press officer, Ms Gillian Rowntree, said they would not be encouraging people to turn off their TVs next week. TV viewing could be part of a balanced lifestyle, she said, and TV was especially important to those who lived alone.
RTE's reply to Adbusters, which also promotes an annual Buy Nothing Day, was: "RTE responds to the needs of advertisers be they national or international to promote products or services and, provided they are willing to pay, we are willing to accommodate them."
This is the seventh annual TV Turn-off Week. Adbusters and their partners TV Turn-off Network claim six million people participate each year.
Adbusters say turning off the TV is more than a social ritual. "When millions of people let the screen fade to black this year, they'll be helping to build the Media Carta campaign - the human rights battle of the 21st century.
"Fewer and fewer people and companies own the media that set political agendas and shape our imaginations. We fought kings and churches for freedom of expression. With the Media Carta movement, we're at it again: fighting for the right to access the most powerful media ever created." After a seven-day experiment in life without TV, Adbusters promise a whole new space to think will emerge: "And you start to wonder, when I reach for the remote, who really is in control."
Website: www.adbusters.org