TV or Not Tv?… That is the question. Exploring TV Watching as an Occupation.

TV or Not Tv?… That is the question. Exploring TV Watching as an Occupation.

Date: 15/09/2015  Host: @GillyGorry

Blog Post  –  Transcript

Tonight’s Chat will be hosted by @GillyGorry and we’ll be exploring TV watching as an occupation.

Questions –

• Is watching TV an ‘occupation’ for you? If yes why, if no why?
• What are the potential positives for watching TV?
• What are the potential negatives for watching TV?
• Could/have you use TV as an Intervention?

This topic was suggested by @otonthetracks and it got me thing about whether I considered TV watching as and occupation and what the possible positives and negatives are for me. Here’s some of my thoughts…

Positives

• Learning – I often keep up to date on current events or watch documentaries or cooking programs, which I learn from and can often result in the baking of a cake, or further research.
• Family time – ‘MOVIE NIGHTS’ are a big thing in our house, and it’s about much more than what we watch.
• Developing communication skills, raising awareness or gaining understanding about others and their situations. As a child my Dad regularly put one flew over the cookoos nest on for me and my sisters (It was and still is one of my all time favourite films, which I watched again at the weekend) My Dad suffers with a mental illness and I believe this was his way of introducing us to this and having a better understanding of his world. I would highly recommend watching this to OTs, when I watched it on Saturday I thought  ‘McMurphy would have made a great OT.’.
• It provides shared experiences that I can talk to others about.
• It can help with establishing routine.
• It can take us through a whole range of emotions.

Negatives

• It can be a procrastinators worst enemy
• It can be time consuming
• Not an active occupation ( I’m not saying I blame TV watching for my expanding waist line… but it doesn’t help)
• It can be a lonely occupation
• It can be a mindless activity (not sure that’s always bad)
• It can cost a lot of money
• It can be a barrier to communication and relationships
• Certain programs/topics can be upsetting
• It can affect sleep.

Personally I try to keep a good balance, and mostly feel the positive benefits of watching TV, but I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Gilly