How to live without television
60Kill your TV
Recently I read that the average U.S. home has more televisions per household than people. And I believe it. Not only are they everywhere, they are getting bigger and bigger.
Once not all that long ago I lived without a TV for 3 years. Friends and relatives kept trying to give me one. They assumed I had fallen on hard times. They couldn't wrap their minds around the idea that I didn't have one on purpose.
Finally a friend retired and moved to another state and gave us a bunch of stuff including a TV. Shortly after that my mother died, and I inherited hers too. If I lived alone I'd probably have gotten rid of them, but I have to take into account the feelings of others.
I've never had cable. If I were going to spend a monthly fee like that, I'd spend it on books or art supplies.
So many people say they don't have any time to pursue their dreams and goals. Time after time women have told me they were dying to learn to belly dance. I'd say, "Great, classes are on Tuesday night." It doesn't matter which night I mentioned because they'd say, "Oh, that's not a good time. That is when (insert TV show) is on.
There are many things in a schedule you just cannot change. You have to work so many hours and sleep so many hours. But one thing you can adjust is how much TV you watch.
(Or DVD's, let's not split hairs here). The point is, how much of your life do you want to spend sitting on a couch? There is almost always something better to do than watch TV.
Love sports? Go do them. An hour of playing basketball will do you world's more good.
So I made a few TV rules for myself. No re-runs. Life's too short. No more than two hours of TV in a row. If someone else is watching a show I don't care for, I don't feel obligated to watch it just because it is on. Sometimes I have to leave the room or I get sucked in. If I have to watch it, I at least exercise or knit during it. If I'm reading I turn the TV off. Reading just isn't efficient for me with the TV on. No more than one hour of news a day (if that). All those teasers and commercials are a waste of time. Better to read the news on the Internet. You can read in 10 minutes more than a whole hour of TV news can convey. That gives you 50 more minutes a day to write poetry, make love, stroll in the moonlight, read to your children or walk your dog.
Take your time and your life back.
They are everywhere.
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if I had to watch most tv I'd never turn the set on, but I admit to loving my satellite channels ifc, sundance, bravo, history and ngc. I love independent film, and nonfiction information programming. I might also be a news junkie :|
sitcoms, soaps and the other traditional offerings drive me up the wall, however.
Gave up TV over 3 years ago and have not missed it all, 99% of it is not worth watching. The great revolution in satellite, digital and cable television has created 100's and 100's of channels which dilute media into a very thin pea soup that is not worth even tasting,
When I go out to shops, you guessed it, a TV over the checkout, when I go to the pub, you guessed it, plasma screens pumping out a big long media stream of pixelated images, yes, nearly on every wall.
I even went to my local city centre and lo and behold, a mega 50 foot screen on the side of a beautiful building blasting away over the main square. Poor building.
I know a lady who has the latest and I mean latest satellite system that can broadcast to every room (lets see? living room, kitchen and 3 bedrooms, not sure about the bathroom or the garden, that's at least 5-7 televisions in one house) and if you want you can play back any of those precious moments you miss when you actually might talk and relate to a real live human being and the real world.
Why did they have to replace perfectly functioning CRT televisions with plasma and LCD ones ?. Millions of TV's thrown away in land fill or exported to contaminate poor Chinese workers with circuit boards full of rare metals that further pollute the land and rivers for hundreds of years.
This is not rant against progress, television when it first came out helped to educate and entertain millions of people, but now it has regressed into a state of banality and the superficial
Become a dissident and refusenik and watch no more TV !
Yipeee, I have no TV !
working
Paul Edmondson says:
2 years ago
About 4 years ago we were avid TV watchers. Large TV, Direct TV (NFL Package), Ultimate TV (dual tuners where we wished we had four tuners) and then we went cold turkey. We got rid of the TV and all the gear. Every once in a while, I want to watch a game, but that's about it. Now we talk and read much more. I had a friend that turned his TV in to book shelves and another that turned his in to a fish aquarium. Probably better uses.