Watching TV is usually considered a sign of laziness or a mode of relaxation, but not very educational. However, that is false. Watching TV doesn’t have to be a mode of entertainment only, rather it can also be a source of learning if done correctly. The thing about television is that you need to be careful of what you and your family are watching. While there are many movies, anime, and TV shows that have violence, nudity, and other potentially harmful content, there are also others that teach lessons and encourage good behaviors among them.

Before we go into that, let’s talk about why this is even a concern for some people. Studies showed that children under two years already have a screen time of an average of 53 minutes per day. It also states that 65% of children under eight years of age watch TV daily and spend about an hour and a half watching TV per day. This shows us how concerning it is that kids are exposed to the screen for so long. However, instead of completely cutting off their screen time, you can use it to your advantage and benefit from it. So, let’s dive right into it.

Improving Your Grammar and Sharpening Your Language Skills

If you are learning a new language, or you are constantly looking to improve your vocabulary, then you can use the TV to help you with that. Studying is always considered difficult and more often than not, people prefer to learn in a practical and fun way, rather than through books. So, TV is the solution. Let’s take an example scenario here. Let’s suppose you are looking to study or move to Germany or France or literally anywhere else and to adjust better, you decide to learn the language. You can do so in two ways:

1. You can take some classes and read some books on the language and continue learning that way.
2. Or, you can watch movies and TV shows. You can start with having English subtitles as well so you will know what they are saying. Slowly by slowly, you start to grasp phrases and words and you search up some things to get a better understanding of the words. At this point, you can use books as well and continue to learn practically through TV shows and also by books.

Which method would you prefer of the two? As effective as the first option sounds, it gets boring and you can fall inconsistent after some time. However, with the second option, you are not only learning the language but you are learning about the situation of when to use it as well. You grasp things faster and you don’t become inconsistent as you are technically enjoying and learning at the same time. This is how TV can be beneficial, for not just a specific age group, but all age groups. Learning a language is not restricted to a particular age after all.

Even if you are quite familiar with a language, you can’t know that language 100%. There can be terms and phrases you might not know about your own mother tongue. Thus, watching TV can help you expand your vocabulary and learn more about your own language as well.

Enhances Reading and Comprehension

There was a time when you read classic books like The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, etc. to enhance your reading, comprehension, and understanding. However, you don’t really need to do that anymore. While you can still read books if you want to, you have the option of watching them on TV and seeing the characters come to life. This does not only apply to classics, but also to other books. This is especially great for those who don’t enjoy reading books and would rather watch something.

Another activity you can engage in to keep yourself occupied is comparing the book and the movie. Most time, the story written in the book is altered a little to fit into the movie. This way, you can see what is missing and what is not. You can also analyze these scenes and see why they were chosen to be cut out or changed. Discussing characters and stories with friends also helps to increase your knowledge as everyone has different perspectives.

Improves Analytical Skills

Usually, when we watch movies and TV shows with our friends and family, there is a discussion that follows once the movie ends. This discussion is basically an exchange of ideas and opinions about the movie and it is quite entertaining to be a part of. Especially if the movie is a mystery movie, everyone has their own theories and ideas for everything.

Now, this is a healthy discussion that shows you lets you look at the same thing from a different perspective. Because of this, you, not only learn to look at things from more than one angle but your debating or analyzing skills improve as well.

Self-Assessment and Judgment

Just like we said before, watching a movie sparks a healthy discussion and enables a person to analyze something better. Sometimes, it is the case that you start relating to the character’s nature or actions. Based on this, you can evaluate your decisions, actions, ideas, etc. If the movie shows it positively, you can work to improve your behavior and attitude as well. Movies that show negative qualities leading up to a major disaster or a very negative impact in the future, people can learn from these and change their own behavior to be better. Self-assessment and judgment can help you reflect on your actions and strive to be a better person.

Improved Memory

Retaining information for longer amounts of time can be quite a challenge when you have a lot of things to do. Watching movies, just, like reading books, can help a lot in this matter. Since you are learning something from the movie and you retain information, whether necessary or unnecessary, your memory improves and your ability to recall things gets stronger.

Learning about History

Historical shows and documentaries or recreations of history seem to interest people more than the actual story. The reason for this is history is often found in your history books and doesn’t really spark any curiosity. When it’s in the form of a movie, people watch it is, and only later do they get curious about the actual story. Examples of such films and TV shows would be:

• Chernobyl
• Sully
• Hidden figures
• Titanic
• My friend Dahmer
• House of Gucci
• Big Eyes
• Extremely wicked, shockingly evil and vile

These shows and movies may not be 100% accurate but they do give you an overview of what went down and leave you curious enough to find out more. So, in this way, TV is a source of knowledge for many people.

What Do You Need?

To reap maximum benefits of watching TV, you will need to have a great channel lineup, possibly even one with premium channels, so you get exclusive content and media for your entertainment and learning. The WOW! channel lineup for its plans is ideal for this purpose, especially the medium TV and large TV plan. Not only do you get 130+ and 160+ channels respectively in these plans, but you also get it all with free HD!

Conclusion

The next time you think of watching TV, you should give it a try and look for something that can benefit you with knowledge and maybe even, improve your communication skills. This way, you can enjoy and learn something new from just watching TV.