Sweet freedom: life without TV

I take issue with the Idea that there are better things to do.
Watching TV is recreation. In my recreation time, I enjoy playing the guitar, but playing the guitar is not 'better' than watching TV.
I enjoy reading, but often I read books with little to no artistic value and from which I learn nothing. In those case, reading is not 'better' than watching TV.
Often times, we engage in recreational activities that are different from watching TV but not exactly better.

 

II went completely without TV of any sort for about nine months. I'd quit my job, sold my house and was waiting to get into graduate school. Most of that time I lived in the mountains where there's no reception or cable while I worked on repairing a cabin owned by our extended family.

When I returned to civilization, one of the first things I tried to watch was FOX Monday Night Football. The graphics made my dizzy.

When I first took the job, here, we lived way out on a farm. Cable wasn't available and satellite was just too expensive. Other than VCRs and DVDs, all we got was the snow channel. We lived there for seven years. Of course, I was usually on the desk during any major sports event and it was on the TV at work.

Now, we have cable. Other than the Food Network, I'd pretty much rather go outside or read a book. The trumped-up "big events" (Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, Survivor, etc.) just seem like jokes.

 

With the spread of the cancer of bullshit brain-rotting reality shows across channels (History, Science, NatGeo, Discovery) which ought to be devoted to programming fit for sentinent human beings, along with the takeover of network TV by fucking imbecilic dance and lame-ass singing shows, it's feeling like less and less and less of a sacrifice.

 

Reading this thread, all I can think of is this:



Maybe it's because I like my TV, but the notion that watching is akin to smashing your forehead with a hammer seems silly. When I go on vacation I'm usually too busy to watch much of anything for a week or so, and when I come back it always seems like I'm a step out of touch with the rest of the world. That doesn't make me feel enlightened. It makes me feel like an idiot.

 

I think the idea that TV is inherently brain-deadening should have been retired about 10 years ago. It's interesting that the Onion article posted was from 2000, because I'm not sure how many pseudo-intellectual types today would use no TV as their chosen affectation. The last 10 years have seen "The Sopranos," "The Wire," "Mad Men," and on and on and on. It's a golden age if you know where to look, and the best television is every bit the art form that good movies are.

The last few nights, I've tried to read a mindless novel, Dennis Lehane's "Shutter Island," because I was thinking it would be a superior form of mindless entertaining to vegging out in front of the TV. It's not. The plot and dialog is so tedious it's mind-numbing. Give me "The Sopranos" or "30 Rock" any day of the week.

 

As Waylon said, TV is at it's pinnacle right now if you know where to look. HBO/Showtime/FX/TNT/AMC and a few others consistently have great shows on. And there's still some very good shows on the networks like Friday Night Lights, Lost, Glee, Modern Family, Community, etc.

Having said all that, I actually only have basic cable right now for money reasons and I'm mostly fine with it. I miss not being able to get some of the sports on tv, but I've slowly gotten use to missing games and it doesn't really bother me anymore. The rest of the shows I'm perfectly fine watching on my computer.

 

Also, to cut this off at the pass before it starts, I don't think that it is being pretentious to watch "Mad Men" and its ilk rather than "Criminal Minds" or "CSI: Cleveland." They are serial shows that require you to watch every week, and I don't think network television could afford the audience hit that might entail. Look at how the "LOST" audience has declined, for example, or "24."

 

I'm just saying that not watching TV is not inherently better than watching TV.
Watching less TV is not inherently better.
There's a lot of bad, stupid programming on TV. I know people who watch it.
And a lot of people don't like what I watch.
Different strokes. I don't know that it makes anyone better or smarter based on what he/she watches.

As long as you're not sitting around wishing some channel would play more music videos.

 

I have no problem with people who don't watch TV, as long as they're not smug about it. Personally, I love TV. If I could go back in time, I'd try write TV scripts instead of sports profiles. Its the most interesting medium going right now.

 

We got rid of our cable/dish two years ago because the kids were watching too much of it and not doing their homework.

Yes, I miss watching the games sometimes. But I also don't miss it much. I've almost completely given up on being a fanboy of any team or athlete. So not seeing the SEC game of the week on CBS doesn't hurt me a bit.

But the kids, other than the teenager, are much happier and do this remarkable thing now ... they play outside

 

Remarkable that Idaho just made that post. Because I just returned to add one point: My children will be severely limited in how much television they watch. And video games they play. And computer/Internet usage. I have one friend from this business who doesn't let his kids watch TV during the week. Sounds like a plan to me. And I hope this doesn't come off as judgmental of parents who do let their kids watch a lot of it. But I know what a procrastinator I can be. I know what kind of procrastinator my wife can be. And I know this stuff can be hereditary.