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STORY TIME: Dangers of TV addiction
Dina tip-toed carefully towards her bedroom, her eyelids dropping slowly as she started to feel more sleepy. It was around 3:00am and a really good John Cusack movie had ended.
As much as she tried to free herself from watching TV till late night, she knew she was addicted to it and now it was too late for her to stop. Dark circles were forming under her eyes and she was barely getting five hours of sleep daily as she attended her college regularly six days a week. On top of all this, she was an engineering student with high hopes to get into a good university.
“TRRRRRRRRRR RRING!”. The loud shrill sound of her alarm clock made her jump from the bed. “Another long and boring day of college. I wish I could cuddle in my warm bed and sleep for just a few more minutes,” she said with a loud sigh.
Quickly getting dressed she went downstairs towards the kitchen where her mother was cooking pancakes and humming softly.
As she entered the kitchen her mom greeted her, “G’ morning Dina. My, you look really exhausted,” her mom frowned at her as she grew concerned.
“It’s nothing mom, just watched a good English movie last night and slept real late,” Dina replied munching away her pancake.
She saw her mom narrowing her eyes, “But weren’t you studying for your exams?”
Her mom’s question made her gasp and she realized that she had her mathematics paper that day and she had totally forgotten about it. She was so wrapped up in watching English movies, songs and dramas one after another, that she had totally lost track of the most important things in her life. She cried out in despair because nothing could be done now and she was sure to flunk. She grew helpless as she saw her dream of going to a good university fading right before her eyes.
She grew accustomed to her surroundings and heard her mom scolding her at the top of her lungs, “If you fail in your exams, you’ll never get into a good university. This is what we get after years of sacrifice to pay your yearly fees. What will I tell your...”
Dina barely heard the rest as she ran out of the house. When she reached college the paper had already begun. She went to her teacher and explained her situation.
The teacher started chuckling and then added sarcastically, “Yeah right! That’s a really good one Dina. Aren’t we all addicted to TV? Please save yourself more humiliation and start your paper. You’ve already wasted half an hour”. With that she handed Dina her question paper and her answer sheet.
Dina started biting her nails furiously as she looked at the algebraic questions. Everything looked familiar but she couldn’t remember the formulae at all. Somehow she completed her paper in time and went home tired and troubled as she didn’t expect a good grade this time. She avoided her mom’s questioning glare and went to her bedroom and started studying hard for her next paper.
All this had taught her a bitter lesson that making a career was far important than watching an action movie which will keep on being repeated throughout the year. She heard her sisters calling her from time to time to watch a good movie or to tell her that her favourite drama was on but she didn’t pay any heed to them and continued studying. She barely came down for dinner. Her mom sent her dinner upstairs.
Dina started to lose more sleep and her eyes started looking weary and dull. She lost her appetite and she became obsessed with studying. She started studying her books in detail taking references from other books which wasn’t that necessary. Eventually her head started throbbing repeatedly and her mind grew confused and indecisive about what to learn and what to cut out. She grew more nervous and doubtful where her studies were concerned.
When she was done with her exams, she grew extremely sick. The doctor put her on strict medication and she was advised to take plenty of sleep to relax her mind. Everyone in the family was worried about her. When Dina’s result came out, she had cleared all her papers with low marks and her grade was not satisfactory. Hence, she didn’t get into a good university and all her dreams shattered.
At the moment, Dina is repeating her classes and is deeply upset over her past mistakes.
A lot of people don’t get addicted watching television all the time but most of them are not that lucky. TV addiction is one of the major problems which is affecting teenagers all over the country. And honestly, I have come across such people whose lives have been ruined due to these satellite channels. It’s advisable to keep everything in balance and not waste your time
in meaningless entertainment…
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