I Just Killed My Television!

[rucky]

My wife and I were talking today about, well, the human condition. We're both in need of some sort of spiritual fulfillment, ya know, doing something a little more important than selling shit to boost profits for a multinational corporation. But there's something that's holding us back - the usual stuff that holds most people back, I suppose: need a good job, need to pay the mortgage, want to have kids soon, yadda yadda yadda. But if you ignore that fire in your belly that yearns for something real, then one of two things will eventually happen: You push it down far enough and resign yourself to becoming a poisoned tool for America's corporate culture - measuring your success on the path that's laid out for us. Or you begin to carve your own path, and release yourself from those attachments that are holding you back from real experiences that bring true happiness.

So we concluded this discussion with a plan of action. One thing - albeit a small one - that'll get us on the right track. Instead of coming home from work, plopping down on the couch and zoning out for a few hours each night, we've decided to kill our television. It's a start.

And it felt good calling the cable company - the operator even said "good for you" when I told her we were killing our TV.
Now I'm making a list of all the stuff we could be doing with all the time (and $) we're saving from our decision:

Reading
finding a suitable church/study group
volunteering (soup kitchen, maybe)
going out to pubs, coffeehouses, w/ friends or just us
maybe taking a night class
going to the gym
crashing our friend's living room - with the 60" plasma screen TV
Playing games
writing/painting/creative stuff

I'm fortunate enough to live in Portland, OR, where there are tons of community-based activities.

Have you done it? Could you do it? Any other suggestions?

[el_gato]

1. rock on rucky, best move possible

reading is a great way to spend time

I think of the t.v. as mental pollution and I don't want my mind exposed to it.

[trotsky]

2. There is good stuff on TV

You just have to work to find it.

Science Channel, Discovery, TLC, Noggin (commercial-free educational kids TV), PBS, etc.

We don't watch any of the crap anymore (sitcoms, made-for-TV movies, etc.) but I find there are still enough interesting and intellectual shows out there that I would find it difficult to completely get rid of television.

[rucky]

5. There's Always Good Stuff On TV

The point is to force ourselves off the sofa & do all those other activities.

C-Span is great. I'll miss the Daily show, the food channel and discovery, but that kind of info-tainment isn't anything I can't get from a book, newspaper, DU, a lecture or a magazine.

[trotsky]

9. Surely you aren't implying one can't have a balance?

I don't think it's fair to frame this as a "lazy TV watcher" vs. "active TV killer".

[rucky]

10. I'm not getting born-again on yer ass...

It was a point my wife and I agrued when WE made OUR decision. That's what WE end up doing. For us, the liabilities of TV outweigh the assets.

[trotsky]

13. Born-again TV killer. Heh.

That's good. We have two small children who LOVE Noggin, so we let them watch it for a couple of hours on Saturday. And when mommy & daddy are done after a day of keeping up with them, sometimes sitting in front of the TV is the only thing you feel like you CAN do.

[felonious thunk]

3. I took a painting class

I sucked, but it was a lot of fun. You'll find you have so much more time for other things when you don't watch TV. I play games almost every night with my wife, we read a lot. I love when I read these posts with TV stuff on them and have no idea what is being talked about.

[name not needed]

4. you bastard

DAMN YOU TO HELL!

[Droopy]

6. I don't watch much tv

Maybe a ball game or an occasional movie. I get along fine without it. I do spend more time than I should on DU, though.

[rucky]

8. Ain't dat da troof...

We discussed cutting off our high-speed umbilical chord to the information superhighway as well, but I need it for my business. Just something we'll have to exercise some self-control over, I guess.

7. good for you!

I've done it a couple of times for at least a year each time.
The first time was that by some cosmic chance my TV blew up right when the attempted coup against Gorbachav happened and I was spared from wasting my time with up to the minute analysis of what was basically a historical event that took a lot longer than a day to unfold.
You'll find that it's like any drug, all it will take is 5 minutes in a bar with a TV to get your fix for a month.

& even if you intellectually know that the bad side of TV is its use as propaganda, once you stop watching it, it becomes even more evident.

[Gingersnap]

11. Good for you!

My husband and I were both raised without TV (except at grandparents and friends' houses) and we have one now but it doesn't get any reception and we like it that way. We rent movies about twice a month.

Anyway, TV free life is much better IMHO. I have enough trivial stuff in my life to relax with or get obsessed over (garden, cats, reading cooking magazines, cooking) that I don't need something as time consuming and passive as TV. Since we've always lived sans TV it's hard to say what we do with the extra time. We relax after work by pouring a glass of wine and talking about our day while we cook dinner together.

Once you have separated yourself from TV for awhile whenever you do see it you will have an unvarnished view of how trashy, manipulative and propagandist the advertising and most shows are. We're mesmerized by it in hotel rooms--in a scary, can't not look at a horrible car accident kind of way. And we're really glad that we live our lives without it.

[Khephra]

12. I hate this shit

TV isn't a problem. It's a medium.

Do you stop reading because the best selling lists are filled (were filled until recently) with RW shit or pulp-fiction?

Narrowcast.

That means learn what is worth watching and then only watch that.

TV is not an enemy, nor should you abandon it. If you do, then guess who wins? Watch what is worth watching and forget the rest.

I guess I should stop listening to music because of Britney or Limp Bizcut?

[trotsky]

14. I would also add...

By watching, you can learn which companies are sponsoring which shows, and adjust your buying habits accordingly.

Well put, khephra.

[Khephra]

16. Added on

Things you'll miss (or rather examples of shows that make tv worth having)

THe Awful Truth
CSPAN
The Daily Show
West Wing
I Claudius
PBS docs
Roots
News events (Do you really want to be the only person who didn't see (fill in the blank) event?
Twilight Zone (rewatch those and tell me they're not worth having a tv...I dare you.)

I could add TONS more, but I think I've made my point.

Disowning TV is like disowning reading.

23. yes

but the thing is (from my own experience) that images have saturated the culture so much, that you do end up seeing all the news events etc, even without watching TV at home. You can always find a neighbor's tv or they're on in public spaces everywhere.

I do miss not getting to see the Daily Show I must admit.

[BiggJawn]

27. Disowning TV is like disowning "Left Behind" books...

I hear ya, Kheph, but sometimes it's not worth winnowing through all the CHAFF to find those few grains of sustenance.

TV was awonderful invention. True physics in the grasp of everyman.
Then they took it and trashed it.

I'm happier with shortwave and the internet for news...

[Gingersnap]

17. no, but most of it is garbage

and some of us don't care enough about it to go to the effort to find out what's good. I'm not saying good shows don't exist, but I've decide to invest my entertainment time into something a little less hit and miss (like books that aren't sold in supermarkets, music that isn't played on the radio...) than TV. I don't begrudge other people finding decent stuff out there. We have friends who don't watch tv but rent the good HBO shows and NOva on DVD and video. Plus, don't most of the good shows appear on cable, which costs money?

Plus, our tv doesn't even get a single station (we live in hills of LA) and to get even the local pbs station you have to have cable. I agree the media isn't "evil" and I find it hard to believe that you could think that rucky or I implied it in our posts--you're just creating a strawman--or paint us as attacking you as a TV watcher to justify feeling defensive. But in my opinion, the message isn't good enough for me to spend time or money trying to tune in to. Whenever I do see it in hotels, I'm not impressed. Maybe that's just my taste. Do what works for you.

[rucky]

18. We're not making a political statement

We're trying to change our habits. Sure it's not a drug, but it's kinda like a drug. It's an easy fallback for us and we abuse it. It's an experiment, a challenge for us, like when i went vegan for 6 months, just to see if I could do it & now I eat way less meat.

I think it's going to be a fun, positive experience for my wife and I.

[Khephra]

19. Just don't get the "ALL TV BAD" meme, ok?

(said in my best Frankenstein voice)

I can understand if TV was eating up your time, but there's a lot of posters here on DU that think TV is a tool of Satan. Don't join them, ok? Please!

[rucky]

20. I worked in TV for 6 Years

as a researcher for news & talk programs.

my yahoo screen-name is "teeveeland"

I watched last night's survivor and was exuberant about the outcast tribe coming back to the show.

this is a BIG deal for me.

[BiggJawn]

28. I've been in it for over 20 years...

as an Engineer.
98% of it is crap. I'm glad i got out of Broadcast TV, I felt like such a slimeball "pushing" that Schlock...

And your favourite show is one of those I can't stand....

sorry...

[patdem]

25. I lived happily without cable...and no telephone for years

but I now have a roommate that demands both...so she pays and I watch...I mostly only watch c-span in the AM...and Discovery...A&E at night...and on DU or at work in between....and I spend 90% of my days not working on DU and not on TV...cept c-span!!! even then when they have a repuke on I come into the office and check out DU!!!

[southerngirlwriter]

15. TV-Free for 4 1/2 years....

and very, very, very happy about it! My life is so full of interesting, REAL things to do that I truly cannot imagine ever owning an idiot box again. Who has the time?

Congratulations on your excellent decision!

[Brucey]

21. Go to readings at bookstores and museums and coffee shops.

They're free and stimulating and sociable.

[tom_paine]

22. Repeat offender: off and on for the last 5 years

I would say that I have been without TV for 2 1/2 of those 5 years.

It's the sports seasons, partiuclarly football and hockey, that provide the excuse for plugging it back in (I live in a place where I get ZERO without cable).

And of course, like any drug (I sort of have a mental picture of a dozen spidery IV needles plugging into my arms when I turn it on) it is very difficult to kick again after I start up.

But 2 1/2 NO TV YEARS out of the last 5 isn't too bad, I think.

(I am currently connected and enjoying football season. GO EAGLES!)

[hussar]

24. Hey Rucky I'm in Portland too

Hardly watch TV but that damn internet is another thing

Am at Mount Hood College though so have loads of homework- don't need that at my age

[rucky]

26. Westside, representin'

Troutdale is cool, tho. EZ access to the gorge, camping & the ski hills.

[hussar]

29. Eastside, Clackamas area

Mount Hood but a stones throw away

[Systematic Chaos]

30. Well, having your good TV stolen will also do the trick.

Three nights ago, my apartment was broken into, and everything that was taken was leisurely stuff. I lost my video game systems, about 100 CD's, all of my computer games in a large binder, headphones, personal MP3/CD player and my 27" TV. Everything except the music CD's, headphones and RioVolt player I can live without. I only watched about 4 hours of TV a week anyway, if that. I try to catch South Park, Smallville and maybe the repeats of Whose Line Is It, Anyway? that show on ABC Family.

I see that now I can get a 32" TV brand new for less than what my 27" cost me as a display model at Best Buy 9 years ago. But, that doesn't mean I'm in a hurry to replace it.