For the last five-plus years, I’ve paid no more than $11 a month for cable. That was the lowest possible amount I could get away with and not have to deal with an antenna and the new digital TV that only comes in clearly when it feels like it (from what I’ve seen, anyway).
That meant a limited number of channels. In all these years, unless I was visiting someone with at least the full basic cable, I haven’t watched any of the 24-hour news networks. I haven’t seen MTV, VH1, Lifetime or any of the reality shows that appear on those channels. We had Discovery for a few years, before moving to Tallahassee. That was before Jon and Kate Plus 8. I’ve lived in a lovely little bubble.
It wasn’t guaranteed that at any hour of any day I could find an episode of some iteration of the Law & Order series. Many hours of many days, there was nothing on television worth watching. I liked it that way.
I’ve been trying for the last year or so to watch less TV than I was even watching, read more, write more, spend more time outside. Limited options allowed for that.
Enter Comcast Cable to spoil my plans.
I received a letter a few weeks ago saying that Comcast is switching from its analog signal to all digital. In order to continue receiving any channels above channel 24, I think it was, I had to get special equipment from the cable company. Because not getting the equipment meant losing Animal Planet and TV Land (channels we watch regularly), and the equipment was free, I decided to go ahead and get it.
The letter and the woman I spoke with when I ordered the equipment informed me that I would probably start receiving “a few more channels” than I was currently receiving. The two boxes for our two televisions came last week. “A few more channels” turned out to be all the channels I would get for $50 a month on basic cable, plus (on the living room television) On-Demand shows. That means I can watch certain shows and movies any time I want.
Oh-oh …
The newness of it all is wearing off. I’m learning to hit the off button and pick up a book. I’m remembering that half-drunk feeling one gets after laying on the couch for hours staring at a box. It’s not fun. Even Chris, the man, said he misses not having all those channels.
I could disconnect the boxes, but I can’t bring myself to do it. Plus, we wouldn’t get Animal Planet anymore. So we have to learn to live with it.
I’m kind of amused with myself. I subscribed to the cheap package because I didn’t want to pay for more. Now that I’m getting more for the same price, I miss the old days. All this information overload isn’t good. Television has become the monster in all our living rooms. I envy those who made the choice to live without TV. I bet they’re happier and far more productive than the rest of us.
It’s like crack- I know I should step away and do something productive, but I can’t. At least I don’t get all of the extra channels, thank heavens.
Luckily, there seems to be not that much on even with all the channels I get! lol
You can always block channels using parental controls…then you can set it up just as it was before without unplugging the box and losing the channels you want…
That’s true. I hadn’t thought of that …
Although, I did pretty good over the weekend. I read quite a bit and only had the TV on while I was working out or cleaning. I think I might be OK.
please don’t disconnect it until our visit is over. Thanks. 🙂
We have cable and some premium channels but we don’t let it rule us. We have certain shows we watch on certain nights, other than that the TV stays off. Ayla is only allowed to watch what she has on DVD or if we’ve downloaded things on iTunes, Audra is only allowed Signing Time videos.
We ditched cable when we moved to this house. We get the networks on our digital over the air antennae which works really well in our house.
It is liberating because after a while you’ll find that even with all those channels there’s still nothing on!
Renee, you remember my 30 day no tv challenge. It broke my habit, and I am glad you already have a healthy relationship with the boob tube. Unless I get a call from my mom saying “turn this on”, I don’t watch the tv during the day. The evening I am finding myself back to reading more and more. If it wasn’t for LL and Bay, I would be happy to get rid of it, but that is unrealistic. So as I said, keep the healthy tude about the tv and keep on reading. What are you reading right now anyway?
I’m in exactly the same place. We now have PVR so I can watch shows whenever I want but then it all just adds up so I feel like I ‘should’ watch them when I have free time (which isn’t often these days) and then I lack the same drive and commitment to my other goals and go to bed feeling like I’ve wasted the day.
Lately I’ve spent evenings purposefully away from television. Even if my roommate is watching I’ll just avoid that room entirely.
I have to remind myself that it’s quality not quantity.
I only have very specific shows that I watch regularly, so I have that under control. The problem is that I’ll turn the TV on to relax and then get caught up in something like Law & Order that’s on for hours and hours and have trouble just turning it off!
I don’t apologize for my TV addiction.
However, I’ve noticed I’ve been watching a LOT less TV in the last couple of months and I’m not sorry about that either.
If it makes you happy, you certainly shouldn’t apologize for it! Some people make a living out of it. It’s a totally personal thing. I feel like it’s just killing my brain cells, unless I’m deliberately watching something. I LOVE Dharma and Greg and it’s on WGN now, so I try to catch that every night it’s on. I also like How I Met Your Mother, so from 7-8:30 last night, I chose to get on my elliptical and watch those shows. It was the best of both worlds: a 1,000-calorie workout and the shows I like to watch. I also try to catch Bones and Big Bang Theory and 2 1/2 Men every week. Those are the only shows I make a point to watch (and V when it comes back). When I spend more time watching anything but those shows, I feel like I’m wasting time I could be exercising, reading, writing or doing just about anything else.
I do turn it on when I’m cleaning, though. I like the background noise.
we lived TV free all summer, and yes, it was pretty awesome. i mean, there were days that i wished we’d had it, those days that i was home all day with nothing to do. but hockey season is now upon us, and the husband knew he couldn’t live without hockey, as i also knew, so we got directv. a million channels with nothing on them. for the most part.
that’s still fine with me. i get my weird medical shows (hoarders, anyone? mystery diagnosis?), james gets football and hockey and the best part is that we got DVR. which means that we get to watch what we want when we want. it’s pretty nice. that makes it a lot easier to just shut off the tv. well… that or the TONS of homework i have to do. you know. whichever.
i was concerned that getting tv would mess up all the homework i do and the relaxing that we do, but honestly, it’s become one more thing we can do together to relax, even if we’re not on the same page as far as tv goes. i don’t see us ever fighting about it because it’s not THAT big of a deal to either one of us. i just hope that it stays that way for a long time.
I watch most of my TV online now. I have a Netflix membership and can watch movies and TV shows on that. I watch the rest of it on my laptop. My husband confiscates the TV when we’re both home. I think Internet TV is pretty much going to take all this over eventually. (Hince the Xfinity stuff Comcast is doing now.)
I sadly love TV. I don’t know how people do without it (I have heard of people going without it, and I just am amazed).
I really love TV but I do try and monitor what we watch!
We scaled back our satellite package about a year ago to the bare minimum: local channels, DIY and HGTV and Disney and Nickelodeon. We lost ESPN, Discovery and CNN. I really thought we’d miss having all those channels, but we really haven’t. I do miss ESPN during college basketball season, but I don’t miss it enough to justify the expense. Mostly, we stream movies and shows from Netflix through our Roku box.