Stop Watching Commercials On Television.
I no longer watch any television, if I can help it, in real time. LOST may be on at 8pm, but I rarely start watching it until about 8:20 or so. The reason? So I can skip every single commercial. I have my DVR remote programmed to skip 30 seconds ahead every time I hit a certain button, so I just skip right on over every commercial. It’s quite a thrilling feeling knowing that I am avoiding the brainwashing and consumerism that commercials try to get you with. Part of the reason so many feel like that don’t have or aren’t doing “enough” is because of mass media, as we are fed constant images of new cars, McMansions, perfect white teeth, perfectly toned bodies, the latest and greatest gadgets and shiny, happy people – most of which doesn’t exist like that in the real world. But the marketing people are very good at their jobs; they know exactly how to feed into our feelings of inadequacy and make us think that we are not good enough. Thankfully, someone invented the DVR and we can escape all that marketing nonsense. None of us needs to be told that are are not perfect; we already know that (I hope). But buying new stuff to try to make us like the happy people on TV isn’t going to make us perfect! And living where I live helps too, as no one cares here what car I drive, what clothes I wear, or where I do my shopping/eating. It’s kind of like the anti-commercial.
