Stop. Breath. Think. Please.

I watch a lot of television, always have.

I remember — I think I was in seventh grade — when we rented a furnished house in Des Moines for a year, and it had a TV. At that point there was one station that originated at Iowa State, in Ames. It was on the air from about 6 am to midnight. Still, I was fascinated.

Like most viewers these days, I seldom just turn on the TV and let it run. I can choose and change channels, and I do. And yes, me too, I’m often online when the TV is on.

But, we’ve been on vacation this week and enjoying, maybe most of all, the wonderful freedom to rise when we want, go when we want and not go when we want — it’s been so refreshingly liberating to be totally free of demands.

One part of that has been switching on the Today Show out of NYC to catch morning news and then just letting it run while we’re rising slowly and hanging out. And it’s just incredible to me how empty it is. “Sound and fury signifying nothing.” The basic rules seem to be: lean forward, smile, don’t breath, don’t stop, keep the energy up so no notices how mindless it all is.

Turn on your TV some morning and look for one human being or one human interchange and you won’t find it. I know that’s not news, but it’s shocking to me how exhausting it is.

When I first got into advertising, I was invited to be on a panel at the local University’s Journalism Department's alumnae meeting. I was asked because I was a recent, mid-life career changer. The other three panel members were local TV personalities. It amazed me the speed at which they responded to questions — no-dead-air had become their normal way of life. They were “on” whether they had anything to say or not. In fact, the content was unimportant, only the “bright” presentation.

Save me, please.