I don't have a television and never will. Call me crazy, but I much prefer making sweet love, reading a book, going for a walk, talking to my wife, visiting friends, supporting family or braaiing at the neighbours' than staring like a zombie into the TV. I work hard, but I have time for the things that make me happy.

South Africans watch hours of TV per day, exposing themselves to a marathon of commercials that purposefully make them feel unsatisfied so as to activate their buying impulse (I want that 10 megapixel camera I just saw on TV! Six megapixels were fine a year ago, but I'll be so much happier with the crystal clear shots I could get with that one!).

For hours on end people "veg" in front of the TV while constantly being bombarded by idealistic images of perfection — there to sell us products we don't need and many of us can't really afford. We see pictures of new cars driven by confident, attractive people. We see the "cool" crowd twittering on their smartphones. Shiny, happy, sexy and completely unreal yet we can't help but compare. We want what they have. We buy.

Television makes us less satisfied with our income, position in life and the way we look. It's not just the ads; the programmes are, almost without exception, filled with gargantuan mansions, sexy people, fast cars and exotic destinations. Television turns people into perpetual consumers. Without us realising it makes us unsatisfied; we now possess what we don't want and desire what we don't have.

Not only does advertising exploit unhappiness that already exists, it is actually geared towards creating feelings of inadequacy and unhappiness in order to sell products. Why expose yourself to this barrage hour after hour?

What have you always wanted to do? Write a book? Learn to surf? Reconnect with your kids? Imagine what you could do with an extra two hours every day!

There are other, more effective, ways of relaxing. Go to sleep an hour earlier, have sex, do yoga, read a book, practice a hobby that you can lose yourself in, chat to friends, play with your dog... The list, really, is endless.

I believe happiness, and financial freedom, can be as simple as watching less (or no) TV and spending more time socialising with and serving others. Ditch the TV and you'll find the time to do the things that give you great pleasure.

Watching TV makes you fat, poor and unhappy. It's a wholly unimportant activity, yet we devote more time to it than talking to our loved ones.

People are always surprised — some are shocked — to hear I don't own a TV. I don't care. One day when I'm lying on a hospital bed nearing my end I certainly won't regret ditching the Idiot Box.

And you? When your end is nigh, will you even think about or remember anything from the tens of thousands of hours you spent watching TV?

Watching television is like taking black spray paint to your third eye. — Bill Hicks

Do you agree with Kabous? Leave a comment below...