Watching TV is commonly seen as an unproductive way to kill time. I have found that in my experience, watching lots of TV has helped me explore different interests and passions, while also giving me the ability to self-reflect on how people might view me.

I am currently a Political Science major while dual minoring in Environmental Science and Entrepreneurship, and personally, the TV shows that I have grown up watching have played I big part in influencing what I am studying. While some shows are just silly comedies, there are many shows that are centered around workplaces and careers. Obviously, when you think about workplace TV, the Office comes to mind.

Unfortunately, The Office will raise your hopes that you will meet the love of your life at a cubicle job in rural Pennsylvania, however, that is not usually the case. While the workplace dramas are not necessarily accurate about the day to day lives of the characters, it does let you explore if that field is something that strikes your interest. Shows such as Veep, Scandal, House of Cards, Criminal Minds, Parks and Rec, among many others have very much played into my interest in politics and government. From watching Grey's Anatomy, I learned I did not want to go into the medical field (EW-Blood!), and if I had any talent in the STEM field, Westworld would make me want to explore Artificial Intelligence.

While TV can't always be totally accurate, it does give you a chance to see paths of life that you can take and how that may effect your life. It allows you to see people make decisions, take risks, and face consequences without having to actually do it yourself, and not only in a professional way.

Shows like Desperate Housewives, Friends, How I Met Your Mother, or New Girl, are not centered around career and professions, but more around friends and relationships. Watching other people go through toxic relationships and healthy relationships on TV can help you weed out the toxic relationships from the healthy relationships in real life. Sometimes you need to watch the relationship of Ross and Rachel to realize you don't want a relationship like Ross and Rachel.

Something that all these shows do is constantly repeat the theme that friends are the most important thing in your life and that having a support system is always needed. Friends will always get into fights and sometimes its easier to watch these fights play out on TV so you can see how someone would react before you make the same mistakes that the characters did. These TV shows can teach you right from wrong when having relationships with other people. By watching the missteps of other people on TV, it's possible to see the outcomes of your actions before actually doing it.