About a week ago, my wife and I made a very pivotal decision in our collective life. We decided that we are no longer going to have cable television, nor any television at all to be exact.
This decision was very slow in the making, but does stem from some experience. Back when I was still a student, finishing my political science degree out in California, we opted out of cable for the better part of two years. We had only the channels we could get by plugging into the wall, which consisted of basically nothing more than the local public access station, which frankly sucked. It took us a while, but between my wife working long hours in San Francisco - which meant taking the Golden Gate Transit for more than 50 miles one way every day - and my being a full time student with usually no less than 16 units, we really didn't have time to sit and watch TV anyway. That said, we all know damn well that if we actually did have cable, we would have somehow miraculously found the time to watch, most likely meaning worse grades for me and less sleep for both of us. This was about 4 years ago.
Skipping ahead to the present moment, we have now had cable television for the better part of three years, and during the last six months we have even had HBO. I won't lie, I really like it. I am a huge fan of many shows and I love watching movies whenever they come on. But here's the thing: two years ago, we got really into yoga, recreational reading, and civic participation. Something happened last year that has really taken us away from those things that made our lives feel so full. It was television. We simply got sucked in, all the way. Believe it or not, I used to get up at 5:30 in the morning every day to do an hour of yoga before even turning the television on to watch Democracy Now and Morning Joe. We both reveled in the silence of a house that didn't have a television going until after we did our morning rituals.
But lately, all that has gone out the window. The TV comes on before I even begin making my coffee, so that I can hear the talking heads on the morning news programs while I am in the kitchen doing the dishes and what not. I know, it's sad. What is sadder is that when I come home from work, I put the TV on again, virtually the minute I enter the door. I watch 2-3 steady hours of news programming, interspersed with King of Queens and Seinfeld reruns. As if that was not enough, I then continue to watch non-stop television until about 10:30 or 11pm, at which time I get ready for bed. If I am feeling really ambitious I will read a little of whatever book or books I am into before bed.
My wife is not nearly as bad as me in terms of how many hours of television she watches, but she is MUCH worse in terms what programs she watches. I mean, you name it, if it is cheap, lousy entertainment, she is all over it! Tila Tequila, Rock of the Love 20, America's Next Top Model, and on and on! I then get sucked in too, because I would of course rather watch that shit than do something else more productive with my time! Let's face it, we Americans love the idea of doing nothing and still seeing hours pass us by. For some sadistic reason, we like the idea of the day passing us by without making the slightest effort to have an original thought, or read a book, or have an in-depth conversation with a family member, or to do much of anything at all.
Well, that's all over for us as of today. At 3pm, I am meeting the Comcast guy at my house, so he can take back the receiver, the cable, and whatever other mindless paraphernalia came with that evil cable box. Sure, it is definitely going to be hard at first, but we feel that the satisfaction of paying more than $70 less per month to Comcast - an evil corporation we would rather do NO business with - and not being yelled at by various commercial interests for 12 out of every 30 minutes of programming will be more than worth it. No longer will we have the catchy car insurance jingles stuck in our heads at bedtime. No longer will we have constant reminders of how easy it is to get unhealthy fast food in America. No longer will we spend our only free hours away from the office sitting in front of a screen that systematically shuts our brain down to the point of literal retardation. Seriously, look it up! After a certain amount of hours of television - and I think it is much less than the average person watches every day - one's brain becomes similar to that of a person in a vegetative state.
We will be reading a lot more. We will be going out to cafes to hang out with friends more. We will be taking walks. We will be visiting the gym more often. We will not give the talking heads as much of our attention. Folks, the list goes on and on and on.
The bottom line, the Internet is enough for us. There is life after television, and I predict it will be wonderful. I will report on our progress later.
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