I saw on Tom Peters' blog that March 15 will mark "Television Freedom Day" this year. I'm shocked that the average American spends the equivalent of 2.5 months worth of time per year watching TV! That's simply amazing and will certainly make me re-evaluate my own television watching habits.

Even more startling is the amount of time per year that I figure we watch commercials. Since each hour usually contains from 18 to 24 minutes of commercials, 35% of time spent watching TV is actually spent watching advertising. That equates to 26 days per year of watching car dealers, beer commercials, Oxy Clean, Craftmatic adjustable beds, sultry ads for ED pills, and promos for other shows.

One thing I want to know is whether a Tivo, Windows Media Center, or similar DVR device can help eliminate this huge waste of time. Being able to skip commercials would definitely be great, but does it actually result in less time in front of the TV? Or do Tivo owners just replace those 26 days of commercials for 26 (or more) days of TV shows?

Considering that the average American only takes 11 vacation days per year, wasting 26 days watching commercials seems pretty stupid. I guarantee no one would willingly choose to watch commercials instead of going on vacation or doing something else worthwhile, but that is exactly the choice our collective television addiction is making for us.

If you ever wonder why you never seem to have enough free time, maybe it's because you're handing it all over to the TV. Think of how much you could do if you suddenly had an extra 2.5 months per year! I know I'll be thinking of that 2.5 months next time I pickup the remote.