I stopped watching TV when I started taking engineering at school and I wish I’d done so years sooner. There IS some decent programming on television but most of it isn’t.
At least one study has proven that the saying “vegging in front of the boob tube” isn’t just a saying. The typical fanfare brings our brain waves down to a near comatose level.

The most positive effect of not watching TV, and ESPECIALLY the news, is that my empathy and sensitivity levels are much higher now. The violence, negativity and bad news that is commonplace in television desensitizes people. Being desensitized is NOT a good thing!

A fear of not watching the news is ‘I’ll become ignorant.” Hell no you won’t! Unless you grew up under a rock, perhaps with Spongebob’s friend Patrick, and still reside there, there is not one single event, action or attrocity that you haven’t already heard of. History does indeed repeat itself and the human race seems to be a glutton for punishment. We do the same things over and over and over again. If something is big enough I hear about it anyway.

Does knowing of negative, sad events help me At All? No, they just made me feel sad or angry. Does feeling sad or angry help me become a better person? No, it does not. Does it help me treat others better? No, it does not. Does it help me make the world a better place? Only if the event in question is related to a field I’m working in.

The great leades in the motivation field say Exactly the same thing, keep negativity away! And that, my friends, includes the news. None of those happy, successful people sit down to the 11 o’clock news at night.