Our one and only television died just over a year ago, on November 12, 2008. It happened rather suddenly one afternoon. We tried to turn it on and it just … didn’t. I called my husband and asked him to come home early, because I didn’t know what I would do without the TV. How would I make dinner, or get any time to myself? I couldn’t see how it would work.
After we recovered from the shock, we decided to take advantage of the situation to try going TV-free for a while as an experiment. We thought that the most likely outcome was we would hit the after-Christmas sales and pick up a nice set. In the meantime, we could unplug. After Christmas, though, we were going strong and we decided to give up TV semi-permanently. We cancelled cable, disconnected the Tivo and re-arranged our living room furniture.
Now we’ve been TV-less for over a year, something that I could never have imagined on the day our TV broke. What do we do with ourselves and our children? Have we become completely insufferable and holier-than-thou hippies who just love to look down their noses at others? Here is my summary of what the year has been like.
The Good
Getting rid of the TV has eliminated the TV-related battles that we used to have with our daughter Hannah. Almost every day there would be a total meltdown because she wanted to watch something and we decided that it wasn’t a good idea. It was a major source of contention, and getting rid of it was a huge relief on that front.
Getting rid of the TV has also reduced the amount of time we all spend mindlessly watching stuff. I used to have it on for at least a couple of hours pretty much every evening. I would even keep it on in the background while I did other stuff, like cleaning or sewing. Now, the things we see are much, much more deliberate.
This one is sort of silly, but we regularly get phone calls from our old cable company offering us all kinds of incentives to re-subscribe to their service. Like any other telemarketer they pretty much always call in the middle of dinner and lay it on thick with the sales pitch. I will admit, I take great joy in being able to inform them in my most superior tone that I couldn’t possibly consider their offer, since I don’t even own a television. If you are going to pester me to buy something, I get to be as smug as I can possibly be, I say.
The Bad
Being without a TV isn’t all sunshine and roses. Since we got rid of the TV I feel terminally out of the loop. I am not familiar with that funny commercial, I don’t know what movies are showing right now, and I don’t have that window into the cultural zeitgeist that TV provides. It’s not entirely positive, I’ll grant you, but there are few better windows into the collective consciousness than television.
Also, I miss being able to sit down comfortably with my husband to watch a movie. Maybe we could even hold hands or share popcorn. That just isn’t possible anymore, at least not the way our computers are set up.
The Continued Presence of TV
Even though we don’t own a television set, we do own three computers. There is no shortage of available screens in our house, and we often use those screens to watch television programs or movies. I keep up to date with my favourite shows through internet streams. Jon watches sports on the web. And Hannah realized over 6 months ago that if you put a DVD into the computer, it plays itself.
We watch much less TV than we used to. I average in the neighbourhood of 6-8 hours a week. Hannah averages 4-5 hours. Jon gets in only a few. But we do definitely get our screen time. And both Jon and I spend a lot of time online in front of our computers. So the honest truth is we haven’t even really given up our viewing at all.
At this point, we have no plans to buy another TV. Who knows if that will change at one point? It certainly may. But for now, we’re pretty happy with our lifestyle as it is.
We canceled our cable and haven't really missed it except on election nights! Municipal coverage isn't usually webcast. Will misses CNN sometimes I Think, but he can get most news online. We watch more movies & TV on DVD, and as you mentioned, also see some things online.
I’m right there with you, Amber. In fact, my husband and I haven’t owned a TV since we moved in together six years ago. That doesn’t mean we don’t watch TV and movies sometimes (in fact, we’ve watched the six DVDs we own so many times, that we have them memorized, but like you said, it’s much more deliberate. We watch half an hour — maybe an hour per night, as we unwind after work with a beer, before we build up enough energy to start dinner. We’ll probably move this evening ritual to later in the night, now that our son is getting older, because at 9 months, he’s starting to become glued to the computer screen. I really don’t want him wasting his childhood in front of a blinking screen. I watched a lot of TV as a kid, and even then, at 7 or 8 years old, I realized what a waste of a beautiful summer’s day it was, if I was in the dark living room watching cartoons instead of outside playing.
.-= Sarah´s last post ..Now we are six =-.
I am a horrible person. Why? Because while I’d love to do this for my child, I don’t want to imagine our lives without WiiFit and WiiSports! Or without Jeopardy every night as a family. I used to beat myself up about not getting of my tv, but now I’ve accepted it and am ok with it being here. We shut off cable awhile back and now just have basic channels. The tv never comes on until Seth gets home and watches the News… and it’s usually off by 9pm unless we’re watching a movie or beating eachother down playing MarioKart.
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Our TV left us four years ago. What a transformation in our children! No more crazy meltdowns, way more creative play, and more time for us to actually have conversations.
I’m fine with losing out on the current media vibe – i get enough through the computer.
Computers are the issue now. While the children do not use them, i am very aware of how addictive this screen is as well. We’re now making changes to put my office in a basement room with no inside door (yes, i will have a door, just an exterior one!)so there will be no screen presence inside our living space. The thought both excites and terrifies me.
great post!
I have to say, Amber, you're not missing much except my favourite show, SYTYCD.There are many nights when I look at the possibilities and don't bother turning anything on.And, hey, I grew up without TV (collective gasp), and had a great time.
I don’t think I could survive in the house without a TV…my maternity leave was made that much more sane when we bought another tv and put our old one in the playroom for Victoria.
During the summer I’d definitely try to limit the amount of time the tv was on and get the kids outside to play but winter…no way! I am trying to limit the viewing somewhat (much to Victoria’s dismay) so that we don’t automatically turn it on just cause she says so. I can foresee many battles in my future!
Oh well, if worse comes to worse, I’ll just unplug the silly thing.
.-= Carrie´s last post ..It’s like deja vu… =-.
Have you found that your time to get things done, your creativity, and your energy has improved since you stopped flaking for hours in front of the TV?
We have a 50″ screen, which we love for the movies. I have taken a (self-imposed) vow not to watch TV during the week. I purposely do not go downstairs to work (my desk is in the same room as the TV) if my husband is watching TV.
My word count has gone up, and I got to bed earlier. Plus, we don’t spend much time in front of the TV with our son, and avoiding creating the habit of TV-as-babysitter.
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We often discuss getting rid of the TV. We don’t watch it as much as we used to and it would save us a little bit of money too. But…I don’t really want to get rid of it. I like being able to record the few shows I want to watch and then spacing them out over the week. It’s true that we could watch TV on the computers (and we have when my DVR has acted all spastic and missed recording something it should have) but it’s not as comfortable to crowd around the laptop to watch a show. I am very careful to limit TV time in the day though. I don’t want the kids to think they can watch shows whenever they want so they’re limited to morning cartoons over breakfast. I do have guilt about letting them watch any TV at all – but then I have mom guilt about so many other things that I try to cut myself some slack.
.-= Marilyn´s last post ..Avoid the Siren Call of the Cheap Toy =-.
A few times I have been TV-less in my life. And when I lived on my own I had no TV until my roomate brought one in (I wasn’t happy about it, but hey, they rent half the livingroom too). And there were long spells during my married life when we had no cable — just rabbit ears and a VCR — so the TV was only turned on once in a while since it didn’t lend itself to channel surfing with the one clear channel! We gave up the luxury at a time when we really needed to scrimp.
Being “out of the loop” was by far the hardest part. At the office, people looked at me like I had 3 heads during the coffee-break TV chatter. And, sadly, I tended to be a little meszmerized by all the current stuff and cable commercials when I went to other people’s houses for dinner (an amazing amount of people keep their TVs on for background noise!).
Presently we have one TV and it’s downstairs in the family room. I love having my TV off the main floor. We have to DECIDE to watch it, instead of reflexively just turn it on. I admit I do miss watching HGTV while making dinner though! As a family we watch a whole lot of Discovery Channel… so our brains could be worse off I suppose. But that’s just me justifying too much TV time.
Congrats on the No-TV Anniversary! I’m a bit jealous!
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Good for you. I do think not having a tv readily accessible is a good thing, and having to decide deliberately when and what to watch is a good thing. I don’t find we have really bad tv issues, even though we have televisions. Angus likes watching sports, and I actually really like that he and my husband can watch a game together. Eve self-limits pretty well, and even when the tv is on, she’s colouring or playing Barbies. I do my evening stuff and go up and read until I fall asleep, so evenings don’t fall into mindless watching. If I watch something with my husband, it’s taking up reading time, so it had better be something I really want to see.
Mindfulness about this type of media is definitely required. But much as I loved watching Glee in my pajamas with my girlfriend before bed on the laptop, I need a couch in front of a set every now and then.
.-= Allison´s last post ..************Book Review: February, by Lisa Moore =-.
As you know I would love to turf our tvs. My kids defiantly turn it on when I say they can’t and will watch hours if I’m sick or sleeping in. Then ask for more later when they get bored of playing. Now that I’ve figured out how to watch Grey’s Anatomy on the computer I don’t need tv at all. But hubby is glued to sports. Especially hockey. And because of his tv addiction we unfortunately suffer the consequences. But what a waste of money to have tv only to watch a couple hours of hockey every other day!
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We don’t technically own a tv. But that is only because hubbie has our telus tv box hooked into our computer system. So we can watch it either on the monitor or the projector.
Next time I wonder how you have time to blog everyday. I will remind myself that you watch a minimal amount of tv.
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We made it 3 months then Michael broke down and bought a new one. I’d be perfectly happy with no set, but I’m out voted. Ugh, I hate the commercial induced whining!
.-= Summer´s last post ..If Only I used My Powers For Good Instead of Evil =-.
For a long time, we had TV but not cable, which was the same as having TV but no channels. This was before the digital switchover, but not even bunny ears would get us a watchable signal. One summer I wanted to watch the Olympics and I would spend a long time squinting at a fuzzy athlete before the announcer would tell me what sport I was watching.
Then we moved to a place with free cable, and I went a little gaga over it, watching endless makeover, true-crime, and home-improvement shows (they’re educational! ha ha!). But then hulu came along, and I stopped wanting TV on mindlessly in the background, particularly once I had a baby and didn’t want him exposed to so much screen time. My parents leave their TV on all.evening.long, even through dinner, and it’s so distracting! I think they just tune it out. It’s also on as they get ready in the morning, even if they’re not in the room with it.
So our TV is up in our office instead of our living room for when we really want it, but we watch most of our shows online and on DVDs on our laptops, sitting on the couch. We still watch plenty, so I definitely don’t think of us as TV-free, but I do find that I enjoy it more without all the obnoxious commercials and promotions. Hulu has enough as it is!
.-= Lauren @ Hobo Mama´s last post ..Reasons to get behind elimination communication =-.
Good for you! We have a TV but no cable (our computer is connected to our TV). I feel a bit out of the loop too but as you we still keep up with our fav shows by streaming/downloading. I like it this way, we watch only the shows we spend the time to find and without the advertising.
You really are missing out; when you watch Dora The Explorer on a wall-mounted plasma TV with surround sound it’s like you’re actually there! It’s like YOU are there!
We have a TV and I watch dance shows regularly – probably 3-4 hours per week after the kids are in bed. The kids don’t battle us about TV much, probably because by the time we’ve eaten dinner and such, there’s time to either watch 20-30 minutes of TV or play a game before bed. I expect it will probably get more difficult when they’re old and want to watch complete shows, rather than segments of the Wiggles.
.-= Lady M´s last post ..Perspective, the Breakfast Edition =-.
Hey Amber,
Happy no TV Anniversary! I cut down my satellite bill by $45 a month just by asking for the ‘basic’ package. It’s amazing how little I miss those extra channels – they are such a waste of time. I am reading more, going to bed earlier and cooking more, not to mention saving myself $45 a month! When I called to cut back our satellite subscription, the representative tried for 10 mins to get me to try a different package and offer me more services – ugh – I ended up just telling her to stop trying to sell to me and cut back the package. As a result we are watching less TV – maybe 5 hours a week – and that’s ok with me.