FitOldDog Suspects That Too Much Sensory Input Is Damaging To The Psyche

Hi folks! Thanks for stopping by!

The ready availability of television (TV), and other electronic distractions, would appear to discourage safe exercise for better health and a balanced life – that’s my personal opinion, anyway.

Endurance races are pretty meditative as you spend much of your time training alone. In fact, it’s calm, and such sensory quiet time is good for the soul (whatever that is, I’m not quite sure, maybe it means psyche). I’m a guy who needs lots of quiet time. I don’t know if you’ve heard the joke about divers and wet suits. It goes like this: “There are two types of divers, those who pee in their wetsuits and those who say they don’t.”

I also suspect that there are two kinds of people, those who need quiet time and those who don’t realize that they do. We live in a world of sensory overload, with TVs everywhere, often showing multiple programs on the same screen. When I try to turn them off, at times when they are not being watched by anyone, the almost universal response in the USA is hostility.

A good dog and a good book, better than TV any day!

Here is a short movie I shot with my iPhone in a medical clinic. The waiting room was empty when we arrived, so I asked them kindly and politely to turn off the TV; response -> confusion, alarm, frustration, who is this weirdo? They refused, saying the other patients would want to watch; there weren’t any other patients, which I calmly pointed out. Then I was told that it was ‘against the rules to turn off the TV.’ Goes to prove, “Any fool can make a rule.” Just before I started shooting the video a few people came in, and only one was interested in the TV, a very young child in his mother’s arms intrigued by a violent news scene. Oh Boy!

Thoughts?

-k @FitOldDog