Live without a tv for a year

I’ve actually been without television for over two years now. I never realized how much the noise and presence of tv had stolen my simple sense of being at home with myself – now in the mornings, and when I come home from work, I treasure that quiet peacefulness. I encourage everyone, at the least, to critically examine how powerful the control that things like CNN news, sitcoms, and “must see” shows have over your patterns of time and thought. If you’re uncomfortable sitting in a room without a TV as the focal point, it might be time to ask yourself “why”?

or something like that. Obviously i didn’t run and plug in the TV thursday. this goal is pretty much permanent. i can’t imagine sitting and watching TV for no reason. yikes.

i was telling my students about this and they really think i’m crazy.

we were talking about resolutions; one of the examples i had was about cutting tv/video games/ computer time down to an hour or two a day. they thought that was outrageous. they couldn’t imagine what it would be like w/o TV

and it will officially be a year!

I go in cycles. I’m in anti-tv mode at the moment. I’ve spend years at a time without tv.

Theres nothing good on TV anyways…

My life is much richer because I don’t watch TV.

I used to watch 5-6 hours of TV a day before I decided to give up. I was moving to a new place and that helped. I’v not ha da TV set for the last 2 years now.

It gave me lots more time than I had previously. I got to do a lot of other things on my list :-)

...with sanity and purpose determines itself by the allocation of our time and resources. T.V saps us of every thought and purpose gifted to us, it ensnares us into an endless mind drain and we have after the experience nothing to show for our efforts.

I grew up predominantly without t.v. Though it was there I became accustomed to living without it. I no longer could be proved as one of the statistics who got home from school/work, turned the t.v. onto channel 7 at 5:30 to watch the latest soap, a news report follows at 7:00, games show at 8:00 and then the rest of the evening is spent channel surfing. Meanwhile spread out on the leather lounge mindlessly consuming a meal, droning out to any sensible conversation that was to be had and filling their minds with egotistically depressing garbage.

Real life is to be had in the real world, not on a 19” screen! Observing someone else’s (fake) lives instead of directing and navigating our own provides us with a cheap imitation of life that entails no true fulfillment, challenge or direction. Of the few programs I’ve seen in my short life, there are none which I have ever reflected back upon and thought ‘what a great use of 1 hour, how empowering that program was to my life, what a great mentor that tv character was in my time of despair.’ It’s an illusion, a diversion tempting us away from the life that is awaiting us.

I hope that one day my life will be measured by the achievements I make, that my hours will not be counted in vain for being wasted and sown into unfertile soil, but rather that every moment will be focused to purpose. T.V is not real but a cheap imitation of life, our lives as a company of men and women can be far more poignant, purposeful and powerful than any broadcast of ‘days of our lives.’

i’ve been living without a tv for almost two years now & i don’t think i’ll ever go back. i will admit that there are some days when i come home beat up by the day & all i want to do is plop down on the couch & watch Lavern & Shirley reruns. but those days are few & far between. i love not knowing what the latest “reality” show is all about.