Day 1 - The beginning of the end?
This has come about following a short discussion at a pub with two friends last night. I can't recall how the topic of crap television came up but, nonetheless, it did. It was probably something to do with the current crop of reaility programming inthe form of "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here" and "The X Factor". I think I had suggested I would like to try living without television and how going without might actually enrich my life. Sure, I've got the whole world at my finger tips being pumped into my living room like no generation before me which on the surface seems like a good thing but I don't think it's all it's cracked up to be.
For a start, every minute, every hour I spend in front of it, at home, by myself there's a whole world passing me by outside. I watch people on television having fun, chatting with friends, going to the pub, laughing, joking, arguing, passion, excitement, drama but that's all I am doing, watching. Those are things I should be experiencing first hand, not sanitised and drip fed through a cathode-ray tube.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't spend 24/7 in front of the telly. I'm just an average guy living in Kent, England with a cool job building commercial websites for a local company which keeps the brain ticking over and a roof over my head. I've got a great girlfriend and a handful of dedicated friends with whom I enjoy pubs and places. Pretty normal stuff and as normality goes I also spend around 4 hours a day slumped on my arse in front of that slate grey box.
So, rather than watching Joey and Chandler having a laugh I should go out with my real mates and have a laugh. Instead of watching Norm enter a pub where everybody knows HIS name I should go to my local pub and get them to know MY name. Instead of watching Yvette Fielding investigate another haunted location I should go and do just that with a group of friends and rather than watch Joe Pasquale be crowned King of The Jungle I should just TURN IT OFF.
That box also steers my thoughts, my purchases, my likes and my dislikes... it guides me whether I like it or not. I don't like to think of myself as a sheep, I mean who does? However, the logic in me says that I am motivated to buy things I don't need and believe things I wouldn't normally just because the television is so pervasive and persuasive. It tells me what I should eat, what I should wear, where I should go, what I should clean myself with, what I should clean my toilet with... the list of things it's telling me to do and how best to do it is endless. I'm sure George Orwell is rolling over and over. The adverts and subliminal messages must work or the companies wouldn't be spending 100's millions of pounds a year promoting their latest "must have" product. If it didn't work so perfectly then they wouldn't waste their money.
So, enough is enough and I suggested doing without the television. 'S' had reservations saying that it's nice to have some background noise, the silence would be unbearable and that I wouldn't be able to join in conversations about last night's episode of XYZ but to be honest I think I can live with that. The main question on my mind was what am I going to do to fill the 4 to 6 hour void in my life every single day?!
There's only one way to find out.
So, last night at midnight I killed the Sky satellite box with a sharp tug of the power cord and also pulled out the telephone cord so it couldn't phone the Mothership with an SOS. It died a slow death as the capacitor drained and the light faded out.
This morning I didn't miss it as I was in a rush to get to work though I must admit to being uneasy about returning to a quiet house with no familiar noises.... no familiar drone from the telly.
Anyway, this evening has been fine. I managed to fry some dinner this evening without setting off the smoke detector (which is a first, I think!!) having had no distraction from the telly. So, that's promissing. The rest of the night I spent clearing out chores I've been meaning to do including working through 80 pages of a pension document.. but that's not for here. Suffice to say, it wouldn't have got done if I'd had an option to turn on the telly.
And now, it's nearly midnight so that's 24 hours without a fix.
Hopefully tomorrow will speed by and I'll get rid of a few more of those ever lingering rainy day job chores without the interruption from television.
For a start, every minute, every hour I spend in front of it, at home, by myself there's a whole world passing me by outside. I watch people on television having fun, chatting with friends, going to the pub, laughing, joking, arguing, passion, excitement, drama but that's all I am doing, watching. Those are things I should be experiencing first hand, not sanitised and drip fed through a cathode-ray tube.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't spend 24/7 in front of the telly. I'm just an average guy living in Kent, England with a cool job building commercial websites for a local company which keeps the brain ticking over and a roof over my head. I've got a great girlfriend and a handful of dedicated friends with whom I enjoy pubs and places. Pretty normal stuff and as normality goes I also spend around 4 hours a day slumped on my arse in front of that slate grey box.
So, rather than watching Joey and Chandler having a laugh I should go out with my real mates and have a laugh. Instead of watching Norm enter a pub where everybody knows HIS name I should go to my local pub and get them to know MY name. Instead of watching Yvette Fielding investigate another haunted location I should go and do just that with a group of friends and rather than watch Joe Pasquale be crowned King of The Jungle I should just TURN IT OFF.
That box also steers my thoughts, my purchases, my likes and my dislikes... it guides me whether I like it or not. I don't like to think of myself as a sheep, I mean who does? However, the logic in me says that I am motivated to buy things I don't need and believe things I wouldn't normally just because the television is so pervasive and persuasive. It tells me what I should eat, what I should wear, where I should go, what I should clean myself with, what I should clean my toilet with... the list of things it's telling me to do and how best to do it is endless. I'm sure George Orwell is rolling over and over. The adverts and subliminal messages must work or the companies wouldn't be spending 100's millions of pounds a year promoting their latest "must have" product. If it didn't work so perfectly then they wouldn't waste their money.
So, enough is enough and I suggested doing without the television. 'S' had reservations saying that it's nice to have some background noise, the silence would be unbearable and that I wouldn't be able to join in conversations about last night's episode of XYZ but to be honest I think I can live with that. The main question on my mind was what am I going to do to fill the 4 to 6 hour void in my life every single day?!
There's only one way to find out.
So, last night at midnight I killed the Sky satellite box with a sharp tug of the power cord and also pulled out the telephone cord so it couldn't phone the Mothership with an SOS. It died a slow death as the capacitor drained and the light faded out.
This morning I didn't miss it as I was in a rush to get to work though I must admit to being uneasy about returning to a quiet house with no familiar noises.... no familiar drone from the telly.
Anyway, this evening has been fine. I managed to fry some dinner this evening without setting off the smoke detector (which is a first, I think!!) having had no distraction from the telly. So, that's promissing. The rest of the night I spent clearing out chores I've been meaning to do including working through 80 pages of a pension document.. but that's not for here. Suffice to say, it wouldn't have got done if I'd had an option to turn on the telly.
And now, it's nearly midnight so that's 24 hours without a fix.
Hopefully tomorrow will speed by and I'll get rid of a few more of those ever lingering rainy day job chores without the interruption from television.
posted by Alan at
11:50 PM
7 Comments:
The best marriage advice I could offer would be to "Never allow a television into your home, or get rid of it!." My husband and I were married over a year and a half ago. We decided not to allow a televison into our home and our marriage has only become closer and stronger because of it. We don't care to be simple minded idiots like the rest of the world, nor do we want our children to do the same. We choose to think for ourselves and teach our children to make logical decisions. Well, gotta run. Internet can steal away time just as much if one allows it to.
By
Anonymous, at 22 August, 2005
Hi there,
Well here it is 2:05am and I am watching television. I have paused it (dvr) to read about my addiction on the net. I am a real estate agent with out a schedule. That is fine when I am busy but if I am not I can watch tv for hours on top of hours and feel as though I can not do anything else. I have gained quite a bit of weight and feel not a whole lot of anything. I hope to some day get to where you are just watching here or there. I think that everyday and then here I am. Looking forward to a great change...someday soon.
By
Anonymous, at 29 April, 2006
Hi there,
Well here it is 2:05am and I am watching television. I have paused it (dvr) to read about my addiction on the net. I am a real estate agent with out a schedule. That is fine when I am busy but if I am not I can watch tv for hours on top of hours and feel as though I can not do anything else. I have gained quite a bit of weight and feel not a whole lot of anything. I hope to some day get to where you are just watching here or there. I think that everyday and then here I am. Looking forward to a great change...someday soon.
By
Anonymous, at 29 April, 2006
I'm giving up the tv for two months myself!
There is definitely something powerful about making a change in ones life with someone elses help. I came upon this blog tonight after watching two hours of Law & Order reruns. I rarely watched it in the early years because it was always on date night. Back then I was more into the Internet. Long before the internet, I can remember switching channels back and forth between old black and white movies and test patterns. I'd guess my experience with TV is similar to overeating. one can't stop eating and I don't see any reason to stop watching TV permenantly. For me, like the blogs author, it's just to easy to continue watching the TV and let everything else go undone. I don't know what to expect when I follow through with this but following through with it will be a big change all by itself.
By
Anonymous, at 17 October, 2006
Recently someone suggested to me that I had no body to teach me to grow up emotionally. I guess that is partially why the silly talk shows intrigued me so much. A real desperation to understand and relate to the way people dealt with common situations. Now 10 years since my tele talk show addiction started still the same craving and it has turned into a lack of motivation to do anything that I do not need to do. Watching TV is soo easy. I used to be impulsive (ie travel do something fun) and a fitness sporty kind of person. Ten years wasted very little movement forward when I had plenty of opertunity but loniless got in my way TV filled the void and now I see what a waste of my life TV has enabled me to cause. Got to stop for my kids I see their inability to self motivate developing. Goodluck to you all struggling with giving it up getting rid of the box or modirating I am looking forward to the day I can say thats over and the TV is out. Sadly have a partner who loves TV and can only promote its relaxing qualities
By
Anonymous, at 07 June, 2007
You might like this book: "The Big Turnoff: Confessions of a TV-Addicted Mom Trying to Raise a TV-Free Kid" by Ellen Currey-Wilson (Algonquin 2007).
Check it out!
Ellie Jay
By
Ellen, at 21 November, 2007
Alan,
Do you have any advice for a frustrated person, who's partner watches an average of 8-10 hours of TV per day but doesn't think they have an addiction?
Frustrated.
By
Anonymous, at 11 December, 2007
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