TV Hours And The Money Wasted: Is It Worth It?

TV hours are hours that can be used in a more purposeful use of time. If you run a small business, your TV hours are hours that can and should be used to work instead of watch. If you work, you will make millions, yes millions, of dollars. This essay illustrates how much money you could be making at your desk in your business instead of watching TV.

I have calculated that if I watch an estimated seven hours a week, I will lose one hundred and forty dollars a month if I average my time at twenty dollars an hour. I will lose $1,479,919.82 per hour by the time I am fifty-eight if I continue at seven hours a week. Last week I watched five hours of television. Most of that was news. Some of it was movies. My cable television consists solely of news and sports. My movies come from places like Amazon. I do not watch shows and comedies, etc. that many teens watch. Most teenagers watch an average of twenty-two hours a week. This is proven. If that continues, they will lose tens of millions of dollars by the time they are twenty-three. I am way below average. I will not lose that much money because I do not watch a lot in the first place.

Some teens watch thirty-five hours a week, or twenty-five, or maybe forty. It depends. You can calculate your own cost of time, and how much you will save by cutting down on your TV here: Compound Interest Calculator. Estimate your time at twenty dollars an hour, multiply that by your hours of TV and enter it in the Current Principle bracket. Enter the same amount in the Monthly Addition bracket. Enter forty-five years in the Years to Grow bracket, and ten percent in the Interest Rate bracket. Put in the number twelve in the Compound Interest __ time(s) per year bracket. This will give you your amount.

So you ask yourself: Is it worth it? I say no. You might say yes, out of the excuse that you like it, do not know how to give it up, etc. I say it is a waste of time that could be spent in doing something else. My time-waster, instead of television, is books. I read and read and read at least two hours a day, sometimes four, sometimes six. Although you might say, “That’s not a time waster!”, too much of a good thing can become a bad thing.

So my message to fellow teens: Cut down your TV hours. Limit your time in front of the TV. Substitute. You need to substitute. If you don’t substitute, you will fall back on whatever good you may have gained. Start by cutting your shows. Finish with a maximum of ten hours a week. You will be glad of it in the future.