In his book Amusing Ourselves to Death, the late Dr. Neil Postman says that entertainment is the dominant force in public discourse in society, affecting the arts, sciences, politics, religion, and education. Certainly entertainment has a necessary function in your life: It stimulates thinking. It can be liberating to your soul. It can give you a break from the monotony of daily living. Of note, entertainment can free you to explore new ways of thinking, new ideas, and new possibilities.

The harm in being over-entertained — which everyone faces — is that your daily life seems to pale by comparison to what you view on the screen. What is the true cost of entertainment? Certainly your time, and usually your money. You're willing to trade these because entertainment expressly is not reality. It's designed to be “superior” to reality — it's more titillating and more engaging. In a 1978 lecture at Indiana University, the late Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, boldly stated: “TV does not exist to entertain you. TV exists to sell you things.”

Don't make the erroneous assumption that watching brain-drain TV or listening to shock-talkers on the radio has no impact on your time. They vacuum up time you could have used doing something worthwhile. Turn them off.

When compared to what you see on the screen, your own life may seem dull and plastic. Instead, it is real and holds great potential. Ultimately, the quality of your life and your memories will depend on what you actively did, not what you passively ingested. What will you do in the next month to enrich your life — actually enrich it? Who will you meet? What will you risk?

Consider how much time and energy you're willing to spend with your favorite TV personalities. Now contrast that figure with how much time you actually spend with any of your neighbors. Do you even care about their lives? They are, in fact, flesh-and-blood people with real strengths, real weaknesses, and real lives. They could even become your lifelong friends. Do they offer as much pleasure to you, however, as the fantasy heroes on CSI, Matt Damon in his latest role, or Elle McPherson simply posing in garments you'll never own? You might have a reason to like your neighbors: Consider all the expensive stuff they're not trying to sell you.