It was disgust really that led me to toss the remote in 2009. After watching a local television station greatly distort an event I had attended one day, I decided I had had enough. The word distort isn't the best word to use either. Lie is much more appropriate. It wasn't the first time I saw the media alter the facts. I had seen it repeatedly for years with news stories where I actually knew the truth of the situation. Yet, it was this time I was done.
I grew up on television. My earliest childhood memories include watching men walking on the moon and Nixon resign. I saw Laverne & Shirley chant "shlemiel, schlemazel, hasenpfeffer incorporated" so often my friends and I would link arms in the playground repeating them. Of course, we didn't actually know how to say hasenpfeffer and made up some sort of word ending in puffer. In seventh grade we had to chart how much time we spent watching TV a day. I was embarrassed when I realized I spent seven hours a day glued to that thing. Of course, I didn't admit to the class that number and gave a much more socially acceptable number as the teacher was putting the numbers publicly up on the blackboard. (You know, those things kids wrote in cursive on with chalk.) In fact, this is the first time I have actually ever admitted that number. Later I went on to college, and during that time I rarely watched television. My seven hours a day turned into seven hours a year, mainly because I was too busy drinking beer in the basements of fraternity houses.
I graduated with a degree in journalism and entered radio broadcasting. I soon realized journalism didn't really exist. It was about money. I saw how everything that went over the airwaves had to do with promoting something - a musician, an event, a public relations issue, and so on. It was a 24-hour commercial. The news reporters would stroll in, rip the news off the AP wire, and read it verbatim while drinking their morning coffee. No further research went into the stories. They got their paycheck doing that. Why work any harder?
I eventually left broadcasting and became a stay-at-home mom. Today, I'm on the marketing side trying to get stories in the news, and yes, it's to make money. Older and wiser, I no longer naively believe the television is to educate and expose injustice in the world. I view it for what it is - a tool to sell products, services, and political agendas.
But back to my television viewing habits. After settling down with a husband and children, I enjoyed my favorite shows around three to fours a night. Again the word watched isn't the best word to use. Wasted would be more appropriate. Not the same type of wasted as my fraternity basement days, but as a complete waste of 1/6 of my daily life. I watched drivel like The Bachelor, Survivor, and so on. It was mindless and relaxing. However, I began to see a change. It was still about money, but it was now also about an agenda. Of course, the agenda had always been there. I just had not realized it, and it wasn't so blatant. However, a few years into the new millennium, the media no longer felt the need to hide it.
Then one day I decided I would no longer be part of the mass sponge and turned it off. I don't miss it. My seven hours a day in junior high has now turned into seven hours a decade, give a take a few hours. Am I completely TV free? As much as one can be in this society. My husband still watches it. If it's on when I'm in the room I either turn it off or go somewhere else in the house. I last about a minute in a room with a television blaring. If we are in a hotel room, I'm forced to watch it late at night or while falling asleep. We go to a Super Bowl party every year, and if the game is worth watching, I'll watch it. Otherwise I'm socializing. I buy three or four DVDs a year to watch. I'm not sure if that exactly counts as I'm controlling what I'm watching, but technically it is using a TV. That's it. No more viewing than that.
What happened after I turned off the television?
I no longer clutter my mind with bread & circus entertainment. I have no clue who the Kardashians are or why people spend their hard earned money on tabloids with them on the covers, but I have a feeling that's a good thing. In fact, I have no idea who most of the people on the cover of celebrity magazines are. It's actually funny reading "Bob" and "Sue" (or fill in someone else's first name) broke up, got a DUI, or stubbed their toes without the tabloids stating their last names like everyone should know who "Bob" and "Sue" are. I figure they are all on some reality show.
My kids gradually reduced their television watching and no longer watch any television, ever. I never told them they couldn't watch TV when I gave it up. This happened naturally. By leading through example, I have raised kids who do not have the television habit ingrained in them.
My husband did cut back the number of stations we receive as he is the only who now cares, so we are saving money.
I educate myself without the media filter. I directly attend meetings where elected officials are. When I vote now, I make a point to meet every person I vote for, including the president. (Hint: It's a lot easier to get closer to a presidential candidate earlier in the campaign season. After the nominations, it's impossible.) I also meet the people I don't give my vote as well. I learn the truth about the issues, not just a 30-second sound bite created by a DC PR firm. By hearing both sides of an issue thoroughly, I am far less brainwashed as the average person. (In one way or another, we are all partially brainwashed.)
I am not affected by media bombardment of an issue or a tragedy. I am educated about the situation, but I don't hear about it 24/7. I am able to balance my life and not let talking heads fill my head with gloom and doom or their interpretation of how I should feel about the issue. I think for myself.
I control my focus. The media will pick a story and run it into the ground while ignoring a much more important one. Without the television, I focus on what is truly important and not what gets ratings or pushes an agenda.
Once I made the decision to stop watching, I just did it. It wasn't a struggle. I find now watching television the most boring activity ever invented; it's just staring at a screen doing absolutely nothing. Sometimes I look up my husband doing it, and it's like he's a zombie. (Sorry, dear.) Yet I used to do it for hours on end.
What do I do in place of it? Live. That's basically it. I live without all the distraction. I fill my time with more fulfilling activities, like spending time with family and friends and enjoying hobbies.
The number one change which I never thought about before I made this change is that I go to sleep a lot earlier than I did before. When you're watching television, there's that urge to watch until the end of the show. Then when that's over, it's easy to get caught up in the next show. Before you know it, you've stayed up way past your bedtime. I no longer have that, so I go to bed at a reasonable hour, which makes getting up and starting off the next day on the right foot much easier.
I grew up on television. My earliest childhood memories include watching men walking on the moon and Nixon resign. I saw Laverne & Shirley chant "shlemiel, schlemazel, hasenpfeffer incorporated" so often my friends and I would link arms in the playground repeating them. Of course, we didn't actually know how to say hasenpfeffer and made up some sort of word ending in puffer. In seventh grade we had to chart how much time we spent watching TV a day. I was embarrassed when I realized I spent seven hours a day glued to that thing. Of course, I didn't admit to the class that number and gave a much more socially acceptable number as the teacher was putting the numbers publicly up on the blackboard. (You know, those things kids wrote in cursive on with chalk.) In fact, this is the first time I have actually ever admitted that number. Later I went on to college, and during that time I rarely watched television. My seven hours a day turned into seven hours a year, mainly because I was too busy drinking beer in the basements of fraternity houses.
I graduated with a degree in journalism and entered radio broadcasting. I soon realized journalism didn't really exist. It was about money. I saw how everything that went over the airwaves had to do with promoting something - a musician, an event, a public relations issue, and so on. It was a 24-hour commercial. The news reporters would stroll in, rip the news off the AP wire, and read it verbatim while drinking their morning coffee. No further research went into the stories. They got their paycheck doing that. Why work any harder?
I eventually left broadcasting and became a stay-at-home mom. Today, I'm on the marketing side trying to get stories in the news, and yes, it's to make money. Older and wiser, I no longer naively believe the television is to educate and expose injustice in the world. I view it for what it is - a tool to sell products, services, and political agendas.
But back to my television viewing habits. After settling down with a husband and children, I enjoyed my favorite shows around three to fours a night. Again the word watched isn't the best word to use. Wasted would be more appropriate. Not the same type of wasted as my fraternity basement days, but as a complete waste of 1/6 of my daily life. I watched drivel like The Bachelor, Survivor, and so on. It was mindless and relaxing. However, I began to see a change. It was still about money, but it was now also about an agenda. Of course, the agenda had always been there. I just had not realized it, and it wasn't so blatant. However, a few years into the new millennium, the media no longer felt the need to hide it.
Then one day I decided I would no longer be part of the mass sponge and turned it off. I don't miss it. My seven hours a day in junior high has now turned into seven hours a decade, give a take a few hours. Am I completely TV free? As much as one can be in this society. My husband still watches it. If it's on when I'm in the room I either turn it off or go somewhere else in the house. I last about a minute in a room with a television blaring. If we are in a hotel room, I'm forced to watch it late at night or while falling asleep. We go to a Super Bowl party every year, and if the game is worth watching, I'll watch it. Otherwise I'm socializing. I buy three or four DVDs a year to watch. I'm not sure if that exactly counts as I'm controlling what I'm watching, but technically it is using a TV. That's it. No more viewing than that.
What happened after I turned off the television?
I no longer clutter my mind with bread & circus entertainment. I have no clue who the Kardashians are or why people spend their hard earned money on tabloids with them on the covers, but I have a feeling that's a good thing. In fact, I have no idea who most of the people on the cover of celebrity magazines are. It's actually funny reading "Bob" and "Sue" (or fill in someone else's first name) broke up, got a DUI, or stubbed their toes without the tabloids stating their last names like everyone should know who "Bob" and "Sue" are. I figure they are all on some reality show.
My kids gradually reduced their television watching and no longer watch any television, ever. I never told them they couldn't watch TV when I gave it up. This happened naturally. By leading through example, I have raised kids who do not have the television habit ingrained in them.
My husband did cut back the number of stations we receive as he is the only who now cares, so we are saving money.
I educate myself without the media filter. I directly attend meetings where elected officials are. When I vote now, I make a point to meet every person I vote for, including the president. (Hint: It's a lot easier to get closer to a presidential candidate earlier in the campaign season. After the nominations, it's impossible.) I also meet the people I don't give my vote as well. I learn the truth about the issues, not just a 30-second sound bite created by a DC PR firm. By hearing both sides of an issue thoroughly, I am far less brainwashed as the average person. (In one way or another, we are all partially brainwashed.)
I am not affected by media bombardment of an issue or a tragedy. I am educated about the situation, but I don't hear about it 24/7. I am able to balance my life and not let talking heads fill my head with gloom and doom or their interpretation of how I should feel about the issue. I think for myself.
I control my focus. The media will pick a story and run it into the ground while ignoring a much more important one. Without the television, I focus on what is truly important and not what gets ratings or pushes an agenda.
Once I made the decision to stop watching, I just did it. It wasn't a struggle. I find now watching television the most boring activity ever invented; it's just staring at a screen doing absolutely nothing. Sometimes I look up my husband doing it, and it's like he's a zombie. (Sorry, dear.) Yet I used to do it for hours on end.
What do I do in place of it? Live. That's basically it. I live without all the distraction. I fill my time with more fulfilling activities, like spending time with family and friends and enjoying hobbies.
The number one change which I never thought about before I made this change is that I go to sleep a lot earlier than I did before. When you're watching television, there's that urge to watch until the end of the show. Then when that's over, it's easy to get caught up in the next show. Before you know it, you've stayed up way past your bedtime. I no longer have that, so I go to bed at a reasonable hour, which makes getting up and starting off the next day on the right foot much easier.
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