My Year Without A Television

Originally submitted by: Sandy Bottoms on Culture

I turned it off and I'm happier. I really am. I was stealing basic cable from Comcast. The TV is still plugged in, it still gets a signal. But I don't need it. Not that I am avoiding media altogether. This is a two-pronged effort. On the one hand, I am doing this to free up my own mind from the shackles of lame TV. I am free to read books, magazines, etc. And I do. But the other prong is that while I remain connected to the internet, I am testing the bounds of newer media. I still watch LOST online. I'm not a complete savage, after all! A year without LOST? Are you mad? Later this year, when TV makes the full digital crossover, my old set will be outdated. It is too old, it is not a flatscreen, and it won't survive. It will land in the TV graveyard, or maybe a museum. I will throw it off the top of a building, perhaps. Maybe I will leave it up as a monument. Maybe I will try and get pirate channels with my old rabbit ears. I don't want to go back to watching cable channels. I have wasted more of my life in front of the tube than I care to think about. The thing is, I don't miss it. I watch a lot of films. I get Netflix. I am in the middle of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, which I am watching in 20 and 30-minute bursts so it feels kind of like a miniseries. I am still conditioned like a TV watcher. But my kids will be free. They will think beyond the half-hour story format. They will not suffer the late seasons of DIFF'RENT STROKES like I did. Whatchoo talkin bout, Sandy? Turn off the set. Turn on a blog.