Turn Off The TV
More about: Cooking, Enjoy Life, Inspiration, Netflix, postaday2011, Today, TV 5 Comments »Turn Off The TV
(Total reading time 2 minutes)
“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” – Groucho Marx
My life with out a television began last week. After much debate with my wife we decided that cable TV was just something we did not need at this point. I rarely watch sitcoms or weekly shows, or even the news.
My favorite was the Food Network. In the last 2 years though the network has become increasingly dumbed down for the masses. The Food Network used to be great because it was an educational channel where you could learn how to cook. Watching a reality show about cupcake battles is not educational. There are much better quality shows available online to watch for free. My major issue with the Food Network is the stereo types there cooking shows promote. Too many of the shows capitalize on the bad eating habits and diet problems in certain demographics. For a much better alternative check out Avec Eric. Cooking lessons from a serious NY chef, not an ex radio disc jockey making mac and cheese.
I almost never watched the news on TV. There no need. The weather man can never get it right and I have access to the same information he does at Weather.com. The daily news it self is always the same: Today a ______ dies in a shooting outside _____. ____ are killed in an attack on ______. It’s all the same. If there is something really important going on people will be talking about it on their Facebook pages or amongst their friends out in public.
I love to watch movies. With Netflix and my local library I can see just about anything I want with in a few days at most. Netflix has a huge streaming catalog and if there is absolutely a new release I “have to see” their are $1 a night movie rental machines at our local supermarket.
I am really interested to see in a month how this affects our lives. Just in a few days we have been talking to each other more and taking more time to enjoy our dinner with each other. I have also found my self reading more, listening to music more, and even getting in a bit more practice time.
What about you? Are you up for the challenge? Could you live with out your TV channels?
That’s all I have to say.
Peter Weis.
I have always found that television contributes to a particular kind of depression in the winter months, and so I haven’t had cable since 2003 – and I have never missed it. I rent movies and television shows that I want to watch – and otherwise, have a lot of time for other things. Over and over I hear from people how productive my family seems to be…. we get a lot done and spend a lot of time interacting with each other… and my answer is always the same – get rid of cable. Personally, I don’t know how people find time to watch TV – there’s too much other great stuff to do!
@ Megan. So true. 2003 huh. Im impressed. Thanks for reading.
I’m with you, Peter. My husband and I got rid of cable last year simply because we don’t watch enough t.v. to justify the expense; we are too busy talking, reading, and enjoying things like dinner together. Once in a while we’ll watch an interesting program on PBS, and we also get Netflix. I agree with you about Food Network; it used to be my favorite, but it got to be too much like mTV: too much schluck, not enough music (side note: do you remember the days when mtv was all music videos?). We don’t miss a thing by not watching t.v. every night. If anything, we gain a lot.
It’s funny, the subject seems to be “in teh air” – the title reminds me of Jack Johnson’s song Cookie Jar: “I would turn on the TV, but it’s so embarrassing…”. I agree with you, there is a lot of rubbish going on on TV, also here in Germany. But I have to admit, I watch TV from time to time, news, good movies. The internet is more addictive for me, though… I should reduce that time, too!
Regards from Germany, Uta
@ Uta. There are a lot of decent shows on the public channels in the US that are good. Mostly about cooking, travel, gardening. Thats is all I will really miss. I wish Netflix had a better selection of cooking videos, like all of Julia Child or something similar.
@ Jennifer – MTV used to play music videos? LOL. man i miss those days.