Television is known as the idiot box, there are many who are against watching TV, in fact most conversations about the subject are about the negative impact of tv on our wellbeing, I have rarely heard people speaking in favour of watching TV.

From childhood to the present day, I have been hearing from parents, teachers, friends and relatives about how watching too much TV is bad for my health and I receive a lot of advice on how to stay away from the small screen.

I find this funny because as I grew older, I found that I was spending less time watching TV, this was due to a number of factors such as studies during my college and at present due to the hectic work schedule.

The availability of various alternatives to television such as laptops smartphones and tablets, where I can watch what I want has further changed my TV viewing habits.

We have heard about how TV can be harmful to our health but what about the health benefits of watching TV.

A) Watching TV involves long periods of time sitting in front of the screen, this can be avoided by taking regular breaks of at least five to ten minutes and doing some physical exercise such as walking about the room or stretching exercises.

B) It is true that watching TV continuously can hurt your eyesight, we need to take precautions by keeping a proper distance between ourselves and the TV and avoid looking at the screen non stop without giving it some rest, this can be done by looking away from the screen from time to time.

C) The brightness of the screen can be a problem but this can be prevented by adjusting the screen brightness so that the colours do not hurt your eyes.

D) We like to eat something while watching TV, usually we prefer fast food which is unhealthy, instead we can stay healthy while watching TV by eating vegetables, fruits and dairy products that are good for your health.

E) While watching TV, we like to drink soft drinks or alcohol which are not good for health instead it helps to drink water because it does not have a negative effect on the body.

F) Watching TV is not just about entertainment, there are TV channels where we can view programs where we learn something useful such as Discovery channel, national geographic channel or local and international news channels where we become aware of current events and knowledgeable about the world around us.

G) Everyone likes watching cartoons, in fact my earliest memories of watching TV are the old animated cartoon shows like Tom and Jerry, Laurel and Hardy, Woody Woodpecker and Pink Panther to name a few. Watching cartoons for me was not just about fun and laughter, it helped me to be creative and enabled me to think out of the box.

Finally, TV makes us relate to others, for example whenever there is major sports event like the Cricket World Cup or the upcoming FIFA World Cup, there is nothing better than watching the game on live TV with fellow sports lovers and enjoy the game.