Thursday, January 10, 2008
The experiment
Today is day four of no television.....the first step in recovery is to admit you have a problem. It began with my father in laws gift of a 52 inch DLP HD screen a year ago. So we decided it would be a waste if we didn't have 'cable'. Then it slowly devolved into a nightly habit of watching 2 hours of television regardless of what was on...along the way I disovered 'survivorman', the Dog Whisperer and watched more movies that I can remember. John Ortberg says the most dangerous object in the home is the 'easy chair' and I must admit I agree. I've spent less time on the street with neighbors, on my bike or in the garage. I've spent less time with my wife, though next to her at times...luring her into the addiction. So on Monday of this week I quit it...I missed the National Championship...I should say I didn't watch it...I didn't miss anything...my life is fuller because of it...Instead Jody and I had Spa night...where we gave each other back rubs...two hours a night equals 14 hours a week...that's two short work days or one massive work day a week...You could spend a month of your life in front of the T.V this year...it's what I did last year...So I quit...I don't quit often...but somethings are worth walking away from. I'm not saying I won't watch a movie from time to time...I just don't want my life to be defined by the 'easy chair'.
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9 comments:
My lovely bride elected about 2 years ago to "fast from TV" as a remedy to the perpetual "I wish I did X more" (insert read, study, pray, serve, relate). I did not initially realize that a spouse fast infers a mutual fast...I quickly caught on, though!
But you're absolutely right. 2 years later, we don't even have a TV in our livingroom anymore. The room is a conversation center, a reading center. We have a TV for watching holiday movies and special things - and do periodically catch a good cinema production. However, we've regained hundreds of hours a year in time to invest otherwise. The only loss being we didn't quite know what all the fuss was about for Lost, Survivor, Grey's Whatever, or who won the last "big game." Not that big a loss in the scheme of things!
Now we can hardly imagine how we ever had time to even watch TV!
Besides the prudence of just managing your investments (whether time or money) wisely, I also believe there is a spiritual advantage to this. The Phil 4:8 principle sometimes require us to eliminate the competing entertainment and thoughts so that we can truly focus on those virtuous things in life. And we both noticed a significant relief in the life of our minds when freed from those "things which so easily ensnare you" as we "run towards the goal."
Bravo in the dive into TV-deficiency. May the life abundance gained overflow graciousl into all things!
Amen, brother! The TV is such an addictive device. I think if it went away tomorrow, i wouldn't miss it. Now the internet on the other hand...oh no!!
I applaud your decision! You will be very glad you did this--the list of benefits is very long. My favorite result of kicking TV was the sense of freedom. Can't beat that.
Wow, Pastor Jeff. I was here thinking you and I were the last lone hold outs on not having cable in the home..in fact, all of my friends think having no cable is a travesty. I have a set of rabbit ears, but RARELY spend time watching tv anymore. Gave it up for reading, which I do voraciously.
The only thing you will really miss is knowing the weather from day to day..I get my news from NPR on the way to work and if anything is earth shattering in the local scene, you will hear about it from people around you.
Hail to the no tv zone!
Look me up if you need some no tv support..I can give you great ideas of how else to use your time. (and you have 5 of them living in your house..)
Rock on,
Sara G.
I very much applaud going without cable and cutting back TV usage. It is so easy for me to become a couch potato and flip through the channels over and over, almost like a zombie. I've been without cable for 3-4 years and it's better for my pocketbook and how I spend my time. I still watch some TV through the rabbit ears: an occasional movie, 1-2 favorite shows, and some playoff games. But at least I'm more decisive about watching and more intentional with how I use my time in general.
Awesome! You won't regret it. I, like many others, have gone w/o TV for about 4 years now & I don't think I will ever go back. I love the freed-up time too much.
Though, it wasn't easy, I faced a lot of criticism from friends. While I was figuring out alternative ways to get my news, weather, & entertainment, my young friends were upgrading to HDTV.
I'd have friends over & they would ask me where my TV was & I would point to my bookshelf where I keep my books, games, & radio. Then I would get a weird look & sometimes they would try to convince me to get a cheap TV because I was "disconnected from the world." I don't think I'm disconnected, I would tell them. I just get my news, weather, & entertainment from different venues. The only thing I am not getting is "who got voted off which island" & I can do w/o that.
Then I was double-blessed. I got married to Jana about a yr. & 1/2 ago, so now I had someone who shared the same values I did right next to me to [not] watch TV with & do everything else with.
With Jana by my side, we made a pretty good campaign. When people would ask us about how we went w/o TV, Jana would just fill them in on all the great things we did instead of TV & all the time we had to invest into our new marriage. It was sweet. God kind of started a mini movement in our family because not too much later my parents & my aunt & uncle pulled the plug.
I commend you and your wife! We do have a 42 plasma tv...we use it to watch movies and xbox. The movies are carefully scrutinized for content (though, I admit, it is very hard to find movies with appropriate-content). If we have to choose, well, definitely bad words over nudity and sexual content - not that bad words are approved by us, but it is almost impossible to find a movie without them.
Our favorites are the Bourne series. And when we do watch TV is PBS: Frontline or American Experience.
My children use it to play XBOX with their friends.
Regarding internet, we are limited to two hours three times a week.
Some of my teens's friends wonder how they live w/o TV.... my teens just say they are used to!
Well that is funny...I have not caught up with your blog in a while, but Candido and I instituted the same thing at our house and we have in the past 3 weeks almost completely repainted our entire house, spent many wonderful hours working side by side with ALOT to show for it!!! We don't miss tv. Of course we had the Green Bay game on last night but we were only LISTENING to it. It also helps that the biggest tv we have is only 18 inches! Then after the work is done, we have SO MUCH to TALK about and PLANS to make!
;-)
Carmen
The other thing I think is so amazing is that my kids will read in the evening rather than ask to watch T.V. simply because that's what they see us doing. They no the T.V isn't an option and there being trained to seek reading as a pleasure for their downtime.
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