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I'm not a fan of advertising. I haven't watched much TV in a long time. I rarely listen to the radio, and when I do and a commercial comes on, I change the station or turn it off. I use ad blocking on the web.
I learned a long time ago that advertising relies heavily on psychological tricks. Advertisers hire psychologists to figure out how to subconsciously push you into buying. It's not just a matter of showing you their wares and hoping that you'll buy. They try to take advantage of the design of the human mind to push their products on you. They do it every chance they get. It's not advertising so much as it is conditioning. It's no wonder we're a nation of consumers.
Growing up poor, I was never able to keep much (I have a skate board I got when I was 7, and a book I got when I was 12), so I've never really been driven to buy, buy, buy. So I've avoided advertising out of principle.
However, I've never stopped my children from watching TV, even though it's laden with advertising. I'm not going to let me beliefs stop them from finding enjoyment--so long as it's not too physically harmful to them.
About 4 months ago, I ditched satellite TV. Again, not wanting to deprive my children of watching TV, I got them Netflix. It has a wide range of shows. Both old and new. From vapid to educational. I've found that my children like to watch cartoons from when I was a kid (the 80s). Which is cool. My oldest son also "discovered" this great show called The Twilight Zone. They also watch more educational shows than ever before.
The unintended outcome of this has been incredible.
I was watching an episode of Voltron with them when the video faded to black, when a commercial should play, but it simply faded back in. I realized that they don't watch commercials anymore. I've watched them closely over the last three months and I've realized that they ask for stuff about 25% of the amount that they used to. Maybe less.
In short, if you have kids, ditch the TV and get them Netflix. Hell, do that for yourself.
Just my two cents.
I learned a long time ago that advertising relies heavily on psychological tricks. Advertisers hire psychologists to figure out how to subconsciously push you into buying. It's not just a matter of showing you their wares and hoping that you'll buy. They try to take advantage of the design of the human mind to push their products on you. They do it every chance they get. It's not advertising so much as it is conditioning. It's no wonder we're a nation of consumers.
Growing up poor, I was never able to keep much (I have a skate board I got when I was 7, and a book I got when I was 12), so I've never really been driven to buy, buy, buy. So I've avoided advertising out of principle.
However, I've never stopped my children from watching TV, even though it's laden with advertising. I'm not going to let me beliefs stop them from finding enjoyment--so long as it's not too physically harmful to them.
About 4 months ago, I ditched satellite TV. Again, not wanting to deprive my children of watching TV, I got them Netflix. It has a wide range of shows. Both old and new. From vapid to educational. I've found that my children like to watch cartoons from when I was a kid (the 80s). Which is cool. My oldest son also "discovered" this great show called The Twilight Zone. They also watch more educational shows than ever before.
The unintended outcome of this has been incredible.
I was watching an episode of Voltron with them when the video faded to black, when a commercial should play, but it simply faded back in. I realized that they don't watch commercials anymore. I've watched them closely over the last three months and I've realized that they ask for stuff about 25% of the amount that they used to. Maybe less.
In short, if you have kids, ditch the TV and get them Netflix. Hell, do that for yourself.
Just my two cents.
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