My family and I are runnning an experiment. We are attempting to go one week without television. We started on Friday night, and we are still going strong.
Why did we do this? Well ... it's not an emergency intervention by any stretch of the imagination. We don't LIVE in front of the television. Although I sometimes have it on during the day as background noise, and we watch pretty faithfully at night after the kids are in bed.
But lately, I've been feeling (especially at night) that our lives seem centered around that darn glowing box, the "idiot box" in the corner of our living room. How interesting it would be ... I thought to myself, if for one week, we had to entertain ourselves... THINK for ourselves rather than letting the box entertain and think for us. So we turned it off. (Including Gabe's Wii gaming system, which, remarkably, he hasn't flipped out about yet...)
The first day was hard ... more for me than for anyone else. I jokingly told Nathan that I had the "shakes" from withdrawal. Our house was just so QUIET. Even though we kept classical music and jazz constantly tuned in, the silence was incredible. And it made me nervous. And sad. What kind of a world do I live in, where the noise of the idiot box has become such an ingrained THING, that I feel edgey when it is not there?
So, what did we do instead of watch TV? Mostly, we've been reading. Nate and I took turns going to the library on Saturday and each came back with half-a-dozen books. The first day, we each finished one. THE FIRST DAY. The kids barely noticed the television was gone...they never asked once if they could have it on ... they just played. (which gives me high hopes that we haven't waited "too long" to try this) After the kids go to bed each night, Nate and I snuggle up on opposite ends of the couch, listen to music and read, occasionally sharing funny or interesting parts of our books or taking breaks to just chat about life in general.
This experience has been eye-opening so far. Incredible and well worth it. I would urge others to give it a try ... I will blog again this weekend and let you all know how we survived the full week!
5 comments:
Wow! Good for you! I am so proud of you! Isn't it nice to know you don't HAVE to have it on? I have a suggestion for if your days get too quiet - NPR radio is wonderful! (in small doses cos' sometimes they repeat their programming. You might have to hunt about a bit in the lower 89-90's of the dial but it's a winner!
(However, if you consider radio just an idiot box without pictures, then just forget I mentioned it!:-)
We cut off our cable awhile ago and I'm pretty sure it's one of the best thing we've done for ourselves! We, too, used to watch TV just to watch it. Never mind whether the shows were actually good or interesting. Now, for those few shows that actually interest us, we just watch them online for free. And, with a Netflix subscription, we're never starved for entertainment.
Admittedly, we do crash our neighbor's living room to catch Mizzou football and basketball games...
Mom -- no, radio is okay! Not an idiot box at all! In fact, recently, I've turned more and more to podcasts, most of which you can subscribe to free on itunes. One of them, by Garrison Keillor, is called the Writer's Almanac, and is a five minute show where he gives a rundown on the history of the day, in the literary world, and then reads some poetry. I also get the "Adventures of Superman" podcast, (for Gabe) which is the actual old 1950s radio show.
Colin: So you guys don't get ANY tv? Wow! That's brave! Although, admittedly, the only show I watch religiously every week is Scrubs, so I could probably manage just fine! We also get Netflix and LOVE it!
wow! good for you! i don't think i could handle it. i think i'd get "the shakes" too! ;)
Good for you guys!
We don't watch too much TV either. The only reason we still have cable is Nick, Noggin, Disney and PBS for the kids! I think the last TV show I watched was The Office ... on nbc.com! But what I would give to have a little down for leisurely reading, and just down time in general!
Post a Comment