HOW did you get on during the 13th annual TV Turnoff Week?

It ran from last Monday and I suppose people who rely on the telly for all their information might well have missed it — such a concept is not popular with broadcasters.

A chap called David Burke, an American living in England, has been preaching this message since 1996 and other people have taken up the idea in countries around the world. People were urged to “get out of the box” and do other things, such as chatting with the neighbours for a change.

I take the point that telly can be a bad thing, but surely most people are capable of either turning it off or not even turning it on in the first place.

There was no symbolic “Turnoff” in our house because our set is always needed for perceived essentials such as cricket, football, news programmes and Coronation Street.

It is only when I start to think about the output available on the hundreds of channels available to us on cable that I understand the appeal of Mr Burke’s message.

Most of it is absolute rubbish and I need little encouragement to avoid watching programmes such as those last week on extreme fishing, the challenges faced by primordial dwarves (dwarfs even) and the life of a 33-stone teenager.

Should we sit down together in front of the television during the week, we usually find ourselves watching old episodes of Taggart and the like.

The problem is that the cable channels involved pack the screenings with so many advertisements that you have time to make a cup of tea, nip out to the chippy and mow the lawn before the action starts again.

This process is repeated every 15 minutes or so, often with the same annoying advertisements.

At such times, I can believe that Mr Burke and his fellow evangelists might well have a point.