I don’t watch a lot of TV these days because I consider it to be a mostly time-sucking activity that doesn’t add a lot of value to my life. Maybe that’s because I mostly watch trashy TV – AKA reality TV and ABC Family. #dontjudge
Although my choices of TV shows might be questionable at times, I’d guess that’s the case with many people or they wouldn’t make trashy TV. đŸ˜‰
Anyway, as I was watching my trashy TV the other day I realized that most of us probably watch TV to escape from the reality of our lives, which is why life is not like TV for most people.
I’d guess that most of us tend to watch TV shows and movies that are either about people with way more money than us or about people who start with way less money than us and end up with way more than us. (Rags to riches anyone?) Those are the types of TV shows that are interesting to the general public. No one wants to watch a TV show about a mid-20s single girl in Kansas who lives alone with her 3 dogs, 1 cat, and works on her laptop all day because it’s not interesting.
What is interesting are the lives (and budgets) of those unlike us. Here are 3Â instances where life is not like TV, at least not the kind of TV I watch or the kind of life I live.
Cooking vs. Eating Out
Of course I had to mention this one because eating out is one of my biggest budget weaknesses. That said, even I don’t eat out as often as the characters on some of my favorite TV shows. Even the people in “reality” TV always seem to be eating out or ordering in instead of cooking. This is definitely not something that is realistic to most people’s health and wealth.
Admittedly, I didn’t realize how often the characters in one of the shows I watch eat out, get carry out, or order in until I read in the online synopsis of one of the episodes I missed a few weeks ago. Now I’m constantly reminded as the characters seem to be eating food in every episode and I’ve only seen them cook once or twice total.
Work-Life Balance
Another semi-pet peeve of mine is that no one on TV shows seems to ever be working or going to school. High school students are always out in the corridor, using their cell phones, or getting coffee with friends before and after school. I know nothing exciting happens during class, but these kids seem to have more spare time than school time. And adults never seem to work either.
This leads to my next point…
Lavish Lifestyles
Have you ever noticed how the lifestyles of the characters on TV never seem to fit with the estimated earnings associated with their profession? One classic example is Carrie from SATC. Carrie doesn’t seem to put in too much time working as a writer and yet she is able to afford all things designer and live in NYC without a money trouble in the world. As a writer myself, I know it doesn’t work that way. But again, no one wants to watch me slave away when they could be watching Carrie go shopping instead. đŸ™‚
I’m sure NYC girl Stefanie would agree that it takes a lot more than one writing column to afford living in the city.
Confess: Do you watch trashy TV? Does the TV you watch tend to reflect real life? We’re dying to know so tell us below!
