Flowers Where the TV Used to Be...

I finally took my own advice.

Unplugged the TV and carried it out into the garage.

Disconnected the DVD player, VCR, and antenna.

Now, where the TV used to be, there's a vase of flowers.

As I've mentioned in the past (two years ago, actually), my wife and I don't watch much television. Maybe an average of an hour a week.

The challenge is the kids. It's way too easy to use the TV as a babysitter when you need to get ready to go out or get something done.

So I decided today would be the day. In fact, it's been on my mind ever since listening to James Brausch's Life Management 101 CD.

It's a good feeling to ditch the TV. I encourage you to get rid of your TV too. There are a lot of reasons why. Increased productivity. Better health. Improved sense of well-being. Etc.

Back in 2005, I wrote a brief article based on The Plug-In Drug by Marie Winn. You might want to read it.

If nothing else, remember what Jim Rohn says about television viewing: "Rich people have big libraries. Poor people have big TVs."

P.S. Ever since canceling my magazine subscriptions (another of James Brausch's suggestions), I've been reading more books, which is great. I imagine the same thing will happen now that the TV is gone.

P.P.S. I wrote a poem a long time ago about television called "Satellite Gods." I'll post it here in a few days.

Comments

[Stephen Dean]

Hey good work Ryan. I've still got mine plugged into my DVD player, but I told my cable provider that their Internet service will be all I need. I'm finally learning how to play that guitar... and yeah, reading more books. Cheers!

[Perry]

We haven't had cable in years. Even the kids got used to it. It's almost gotten to the point I can't afford the books my daughter reads. Fortunately my son moved out and buys his own books now. But we do subscribe to Netflix. I love watching a good movie once in a while. But I watch almost no tv. We do have an antenna on the roof (yes tv is still broadcast over the air) and I watch the news once in a while. I think I watched the news once in the last 3 weeks. My wife watches TV on Sunday night and Thursday night. Otherwise we read books mostly. Or we actually sit down and have a nice conversation. Imagine that.

[David]

Congratulations on joining the group Ryan.

Other than a brief four-year period when i first moved in with my wife, I've been TV free.

We have VHS and DVD players connected so we can watch instructional and workout videos, but there's no connection to the propaganda stream.