Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, I'm going to talk about the effect of the media on our minds and in our lives. So I think many people have a little bit of a love-hate relationship with TV and internet use. The most recent statistics indicate that the average American watches about 30 hours of TV a week. So about four hours a day.

And the average smartphone user will tap, swipe and click their phone 2,617 times a day. So the average time spent on the smartphone, two hours and 51 minutes a day on average. So that's a lot, but even though any of us are giving so much attention to the media like this, you know, studies also show that many people believe that they watch too much television and spend too much time online. So I think part of this is a simple awareness that people know that their time could be better spent doing more rewarding, nourishing or uplifting activities, but it's not just the time lost scrolling or watching the box that's detrimental to our wellbeing. There's also quite a compelling amount of research that indicates that it's not just what we're giving our time to, but it's what we view, not just the act of viewing that has all kinds of undesirable results.

One of them is that the media has been shown to influence us to place a lot of emphasis on money and status in our lives and less emphasis on nurturing close relationships, connecting with community, and contributing to a better world. The problem with this emphasis says, Tim Kasser in his book, The High Price of Materialism is that this emphasis on more materialistic values decreases our wellbeing and happiness considerably. So I think it's really, it's important to be aware that when we're using media, we're often constantly being exposed to sensationalized headlines, images specifically designed to hook our attention and elicit emotional response dances and influence our behavior. So while, of course, there is also all the great things online and on TV, wonderful conveniences, great information, it's also really important to be mindful of how the media were consuming is affecting our state of mind and wellbeing. So my invitation for today is this.

Try to bring your mindfulness practice into your relationship with the media. So perhaps even taking a pause every now and then when you're using the internet or watching TV and asking yourself, is this what you'd most like to be doing? And after you read or watch or click on something, maybe taking a pause to notice, how did it affect your mood or your state of mind? Has it stoked certain desires? And if you notice unhelpful habits, perhaps implementing boundaries that feel right to you. Maybe deciding to only consume media for a certain duration of time, or perhaps staying away from certain shows or website that affect you negatively. By doing so, you'll empower yourself to create a healthier relationship with the media in your life, reclaim your attention, and restore more happiness and wellbeing. So as always, thank you for your practice and your presence here with us.

And now let's settle in for our meditation.