By Maggie Jackson, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

Our family opted out of cable, and for the most part television in its entirety, about four years ago. Sure there are a few shows I miss, but not enough to reinstate the box. One aspect of television I do not regret is the hoopla over celebrities having affairs, or dying or even stuffing live bugs into their mouths.

Really, who cares what these unfortunate and misguided humans are doing on a daily basis? Give me a real life adventure any day over a choreographed happening or a daily briefing about some person’s mistake.

Celebrity gossip is a waste of time and brain cells. It is also a bad reflection on the country as a whole. Putting so much emphasis on gossip in the news makes us all look caddy, which is not an attractive quality.

Instead of living a life vicariously through gossip, go outside and do something. Take the kids to the park, meet a group of friends for coffee, ride a bicycle, play a game of basketball, participate in some form of interesting activity.

Most of us are aware of the health benefits of being active. However, most of the excuses I hear revolve around the feeling that life is too busy. Listen to all the things which have to be done, and it could leave the impression that there is little or no time to participate in beneficial, healthy and fun activities.

I am far from being a psychologist or a personal trainer, but even I know an excuse when I hear one. This is especially true when those same excuse makers spend several minutes asking if I saw some important development on a reality show.

Sorry, but I probably spent my time cooking, hiking, cycling a few miles, reading, writing or spending time with family or friends. I am part of that minority of people who do not have a substance abuse problem with television.

According to the California State University Science Department, a person who has lived to see sixty-five years has probably spent nine of them watching television, or about four hours a day.

That’s nine years of missed opportunities to create memories. Nine years of not reading, exploring the community, volunteering, or you could simply look at it as nine years of time lost.

So who really needs to care what the celebrities are doing? The more important question a person should ask of oneself is, “What am I doing?”