What would you guess is the No. 1 livelihood in the United States?

If you guessed “watching television,” you are correct. The importance people place on television is a backward concept and is socially destructive.

According to ACNielsen, children age 2 to 5 watch an average of 25 hours of television per week. Those age 6 to 11 average 22 hours per week, and 12 to 17, 23 hours per week. At this rate — which is only an average — children spend as much time watching television as they do in school.

This needs to be repeated: children spend as much time watching television as they do in school. What a waste. This ratio underscores demented personal growth and wasted potential.

Imagine all that could be accomplished in that time. If it takes a 17-year-old five hours to read a 200-page novel, that person could completely abandon television and read 240 novels per year. Just imagine it! Most people are capable of becoming experts on dozens of topics, capable of sustaining critical discussions with the most knowledgeable people around.

This contrast between potential and the status quo reveals how people tend to overlook the accumulated effect of everyday, ordinary actions. This unconsciousness manifests itself in many ways, like obesity, caused by a donut here, a can of soda there — all piled up over time into one crowded body.

And speaking of obesity, did you know that men who watch three or more hours of television per day are twice as likely to be obese? Watching television slows the body’s metabolism. One can burn more calories by reading a book or drawing a picture, neither of which are high-impact activities.

Television doesn’t only hinder personal development. It also wastes precious opportunities to improve the human condition by standing up against injustice. Just imagine getting all of that time back. Let’s say a person watches a total of 1,000 hours of television per year. This amount of time — which is not unusual — is equivalent to 25 weeks straight at a full-time job. That’s half a year, and imagine if this job dealt directly with improving the human condition, like by assisting women and children at a domestic abuse shelter.

Or imagine if this time were spent at hospitals, talking to people in pain and giving them the comfort of good company. The list is endless, and there is something appropriate for everyone.

There is a lot of pain in this world, and stopping it can seem impossible on a low budget. One of the most effective ways to end this pain, however, is simple human interaction. For someone who is suffering and overlooked by society, for example, acknowledging that person as a human being can make a world of difference. It can mean the world to someone who has lost everything, just to look them in the eye, hold their hand, and, through your presence alone say, “You are not forgotten.”

It doesn’t take much time. But even if it did, giving your compassion to people who most badly need it is one of the best uses of time. Restoring dignity to someone who feels abandoned and alone in this world carries real meaning, and all of the “Fear Factor” episodes combined don’t even come close.

So the question is, what are we doing with our time? It’s a good question — people should act with purpose, conscious of their actions and ramifications. Television isn’t the end of the world, but it doesn’t help much to create a better one. Remember that the next time you find yourself flipping through channels and ask yourself this question: What else could I be doing?