Advice to seniors: Turn off the TV and go to school

According to MSN Money:

How Americans age 65 to 74 spend their day in hours(Results for the total population age 15 and older are in parenthesis.)

• Personal care activities (including sleep): 9.67 (9.47).

• Watching TV: 3.77 (2.52).

• Household activities: 2.41 (1.79).

• Eating and drinking: 1.42 (1.25).

• Working: 1.15 (3.50).

• Purchasing goods and services: 0.94 (0.75).

• Reading: 0.62 (0.29).

• Socializing: 0.59 (0.55).

• Relaxing and thinking: 0.55 (0.28).

• Organizational, civic and religious activities: 0.52 (0.35).

• Leisure computer use: 0.38 (0.39).

• Exercise: 0.31 (0.29).

• Caring for non-household members: 0.31 (0.21).

• Telephone calls, mail, and email: 0.23 (0.18).

• Caring for household members: 0.11 (0.51).

• Education activities: 0 (0.47)

Education activities zero? That seems wrong. Every spring, I teach LIFE classes through Laramie County Community College and the classes are packed. I am 60 and my students are 65-and-up. I've also taught at Elderhostel. Zero education activities? Many colleges and universities have adjacent retirement communities. Some of these look a bit scary, such as the one at my alma mater, University of Florida. Eighteen-hole golf course? No thanks. Free paleontology and literature and ag courses at UF? And tix to b-ball? Count me in. 

Turn off the TV, people, especially if you're watching FOX. It's melting your brains. 

Go to school.


P.S.: Retirement village at UF is Oak Hammock. Here are some of the classes offered in the fall:

CLASSES
▪ Alternative Energy Sources 
▪ Native American Art 
▪ The Many Aspects of Forensics 
▪ Law and the Movies
▪ Bees
▪ Jazz III - Gary Langford 
▪ The Profound Art of Cormac McCarthy: An 
Introduction– Robert Gentry
SPECIAL PROGRAMS/LECTURES
▪One day seminar on a Shakespeare play 
 Estelle Aden 
▪Lecture by David Colburn 
▪ Cutting Edge Lectures 
CONTINUING PROGRAMS
▪Understanding and Enjoying Opera 
▪Roundtable Discussion in the Algonquin      
Genre 
▪ Conversational Spanish


Nice line-up. I especially like the Cormac McCarthy course.