I loathe New Year’s resolutions. So when I tell you I decided to give up TV and movies for 2012, bear with me. The purity of my resolution lasted roughly a week. As soon as the first Lord of the Rings movie popped up on my personalized screen during an 11-hour plane ride, it was all over. Even the strongest amongst us cannot resist the temptation of “the One Ring.”

Nonetheless, when I returned to school, I tried to stay true to my pact. I’m not into self-torture so I made an exception for live sporting events, but for everything else — reality TV, movies, sitcoms — I promised I would only partake in certain social situations, such as with a group of friends all watching the same show. Otherwise, I’d do something more productive.

As much as I love watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives or Swamp People, I realized I gain almost nothing of value from time spent watching such shows — besides an intense craving for Cajun cooking and jealousy over Guy Fieri’s diet.

You could try to argue sitcoms deserve my time, but I’ve given up on 30 Rock, Community, The Big Bang Theory, New Girl and all the other formulaic comedies everyone raves about. Proclaiming “I love Modern Family too!” works fine as a pickup line, I suppose, but the show itself is not life-changing.

But is it too drastic to expect TV shows or movies — along with everything else you do — to be life-changing?

Precious opportunities present themselves and disappear throughout your life. The people around you develop and mature regardless of your own action or complacency. Life passes you by no matter what, but I guarantee you’ll never tell your grandkids about the time you watched The Mentalist.

Excluding you cinephiles out there, the vast majority of people do not watch movies or TV as analytical critics of worthwhile productions, nor as part of a search for something meaningful. You’ll find a book, a person or a part of nature to be far more enlightening and inspiring than a typical two-hour movie. The depth of reality is far greater than the illusion of special effects. Watching TV and movies helps shut your brain off, distracting you from the matters of everyday life; so for a half-hour, three hours, whatever it may be, you can simply enjoy yourself. How depressing is that?

I’ll admit keeping up with pop culture has its merits — it makes for easy conversation. Before the resolution, I would watch TV and movies all the time. I finished four seasons of Lost in two months (spoiler alert: Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof took a giant poop on all the fans), watched everything Netflix could throw at me and finished Game of Thrones faster than the producers killed off characters. Even after the resolution, I could not turn away from a marathon of Swamp People because, let’s face it, old habits die hard.

When reflecting on how to spend my time, I returned to Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000 hours” principle, which claims it takes 10,000 hours to perfect a craft, profession or subject matter. In particular, Gladwell claims The Beatles perfected their sound only after 10,000 hours of practice.

The average 18-to-24-year-old will spend roughly 5,000 hours watching TV alone over a four-year span. That’s halfway to Beatles-esque perfection — spent on what?

I’m not your mom; I do not care how you invest your time. Your life, your prerogative. Just remember, success does not just happen. Real action and real happiness happen in real life, not behind — or in front of — a screen.

Nadav Karasov is a sophomore economics major. He can be reached at karasov@umdbk.com.