For the past 15 years, the international movement to get people to break free from the powerful grip of the idiot box has been growing. What started by the anti-consumerism magazine Adbusters back in 1994 has grown into a movement that is supported by organizations including the YMCA, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Education Association.

There have been name changes, as Adbusters changed TV Turn-Off Week to Television Detox Week, and it has a new iteration as Digital Detox Week. But the magazine’s primary partner in championing the movement, the Center for Screen-Time Awareness (known at the time as TV-Free America), is keeping to the original message and focusing on getting Americans to pay closer attention to the amount of time they spend watching TV through two annual efforts, one in April and another in September. This year, the fall TV Turn-Off Week runs from September 20-26.

Television has had an increasingly important role in the everyday lives of Americans. And while those who criticize it are usually dismissed as snobby, intellectual elitists, there are a number of scientific studies that suggest it is not in any way a good thing that as a culture, we are spending more and more time parked in front of the television set. Thus, the reason behind TV Turn-Off Week.

“The reason for it is simply that a population that is less sedentary and solitary is healthier mentally and physically,” said Robert Kesten, executive director of the Center for Screen-Time Awareness. “It is a primary cause of the diabetes crisis and heart attacks and everything else that goes along with being inactive.”

As the nation grapples with a health care system that is in crisis, the impact is clear to see. The health problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle play into that crisis. They lead to increased costs for everyone involved, and as Kesten said, regardless of the reforms the current administration might make, without addressing some of the underlying causes of the health care problems (poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking, etc.), health care costs will continue to escalate.

But television doesn’t just cause problems through the sedentary lifestyle it encourages. Studies looking at brainwave patterns show the brain of someone watching television is actually less active than a sleeping brain. It was concluded that watching television slows the brain down to a state that would also be achieved by staring at a completely blank wall. Basically, when the TV turns on, the brain shuts down.

In additional to the psychological atrophy that television contributes to, it also slows the metabolism greatly. Again, studies have shown that  metabolic rates drop significantly when people are watching television. And, to tie it in with the blank wall example, you would burn more calories per hour sitting in front of that blank wall doing nothing than you do sitting in front of the television.

Karl Marx was talking about religion when he coined the phrase “opiate of the masses,” but he couldn’t have been more accurate if he was talking about the television set.

Television has become an addiction like any other. What starts as an easy approach to fill a couple hours in the evening has now become the de facto activity in too many households throughout the country.

“Since this boom of technology that started in the ‘80s with the advent of cable television, we have seen populations grow fatter and have shorter and shorter attention spans,” Kesten said. “There is a direct link. If people want to be healthy themselves, if they want healthier children and if they want a safer community, they have to make an effort to divest from the screen and invest in real, live activity.”

TV Turn-Off Week is aimed at young and old alike. Whether the result is reaching children who express concerns with their parents’ viewing patterns, or whether it is making parents more aware of how much television their children are watching, the ultimate goal is the same.

“Anything that breaks that normal chain so that the irregular becomes regular and the habit is broken,” Kesten said. “It does take time and it is not easy and computers and televisions are, frankly, the easiest thing you can do. But easy isn’t always the best.”

Kesten suggests a number of activities to help people wean themselves from television. Making and eating dinner as a family, followed by a family night playing a board game or doing something together is a good place to start. Having neighbors over for a pot-luck dinner is another suggestion. Not only do these activities foster the building of real relationships with real people, they help show that the TV is not really a necessary part of the nightly entertainment plans.

Another option is for people who normally turn to TV to try picking up a book. Perhaps fitting with the theme of the week, Neil Postman’s critique on the effect of television on culture, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Showbusiness, would be a good place to start. In his book, Postman looks not at the physical or emotional impact television has on society, but the impact is has on culture. In short, Postman argues that switching public discourse from the printed word to the television is resulting in a dumbing-down of society.

And, of course, as fall begins in the desert, it is an excellent time to get outside for a walk. Whether it’s a short walk around the block after dinner, a longer hike though Red Rock or Valley of Fire or a more strenuous weekend hiking and camping trip, this is definitely the best time of year for it. It is also a time of year when people, especially in Las Vegas, actually find themselves watching more television, because with fall comes the start of the football season, which can mean eight or more hours of football on both Saturday and Sunday.

While the hardest-core of fans won’t think of missing one weekend of football, for those who may be somewhat less committed, TV Turn-Off Week offers an excellent opportunity for an experiment. Spend one weekend without watching a single football game—you can still get the final scores from the newspaper or listen to the game on the radio while you’re doing something else—and see if you notice any difference.

There is no doubt that television has some positive aspects of it, and ultimately the goal of TV Turn-Off Week is not to lead to TV Turn-Off Month or TV Turn-Off Year, but simply to enlighten people about how much time they spend in front of the TV and how many better things there are that they could be doing with their time.

By Greg Jones

Greg Jones is managing editor of Casino Connection Nevada, as well as associate editor of Global Gaming Business magazine.