Yesterday marked a milestone for us.
It's been 3 months since we've watched live TV! We DVR a few shows here and there and fast forward through commercials but no more of that mindless static of having some idiotic show, or worse, commercials seeping in.
What I don't miss about the boob tube:
1) Political ads. My God is it wondrous, especially THIS political season, to not have heard one single mudslinging, word barf of misinformation every 60 seconds!
2) Newscasts. I thought I'd miss not seeing my local news personalities but nope, haven't missed 'em at all! I have no desire to hear how unsafe my city is and who got shot, burgled or raped while in the same breath promoting a community event to bring the kids to. I only watched the news for the weather and I just hop online real quick to see that.
3) Morning National News. Yes, because I want to hear the latest about whose been shot, bombed, beaten, etc to start my day. Not!
4) Drug and lawyer ads. Vomiting, headaches, constipation, death, third arm growing out of your groin. Have vomiting, headaches, constipation, death, third arm growing out of your groin? Let me sue them for you. No thanks. Don't miss it.
5) Dr shows. Oh my Lord, if I never hear another breakthrough way to lose weight that 6 months later is proven to be bullcrap or a southern draw asking me how that's working for me, it'll be too soon.
6) Soap operas. Did you know that we vacation during sweeps? That means I invest months of my life without ever getting a pay off! Insipid, no testicled men giving a glowy side eye to the woman he's left and reunited with 6x or the slutty lady who has worked her way through an entire boo-fay of man meat in the same family. Buh bye!
These things all have a way of just being on but you think nothing about it. Do you know how much nicer it is to start the day with some jazz or ambient music to get you centered than "carjackings! Fires! Shootings! Rape!...now go have a good day!" All of this static distorts our brains and desensitizes us. We all get programmed a little more with it floating around. I am so happy we have cut these things out of our life and it's so much easier than we thought it would be. We don't have anything other than cable (no Netflix, Hulu or any of that crap) because we don't need it. We have about 10-15 shows we care about between us and we'll tape them, fast forward through the media static and move on. If you keep a TV on just to have background noise first thing in the morning or any time while you're home, consider doing a TV detox for even a week to see if it affects your mood and stress levels. I know it did ours!
Do you do TV detoxes? How long do you think you and your family could last?
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I have an at-times stressful job as you know. Starting my day off by listening to Soundscapes or Smooth Jazz has really been great and I cannot fathom going back to having CBS News on and listening to Gail and Charlie in their weird flirtations along with all the bad news. I know sh*t happens in the world. I don't need it drilled into my head every morning before I even get a chance to decide what kind of day I'm going to have thankyouverymuch.
ReplyDeleteI never thought too much about it - about having a choice whether to listen/watch or not. It was just something we did automatically. And you're right, who needs to start their day that way?? I think the hubs and I will start our own little experiment (although he would NEVER give up his Red Sox, Bruins or Pats games!). I'll let you know how it goes! I'll send out an early have a great weekend to you - and I'll have to read your "What I'm Reading This Week" post when we get back from Maine. Can't wait for our road trip tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteI am the same way. I've never watched the morning news programs (nor Oprah, Dr. Phil, etc). I have Mike&Mike on ESPN for background noise and then the tv goes off when that show is over. I rarely have the tv on during the day and I only turn on the news at 12 minutes after the hour because I know that's when the weather comes on. I watch a handful of shows every week and I almost always record them so I can skip the commercials. Now the hubs on the other hand would lose his mind. He needs constant noise (not really the news though) and he flips, flips, flips the channels on the remote. We don't subscribe to any of the movie channels and just have DISH. Football and hockey games are really the only things that I don't mind having on nonstop. Oh yeah, and I do admit to leaving the Cartoon network on for the dogs when I leave the house and will also put on the Dog Channel for them. =o) One thing we used to do years ago just for giggles was to have Irish music playing while cartoons were on with the tv muted. It would crack me up to see Deputy Dog, Tennessee Tuxedo, or Woody Woodpecker looking like they were singing with an Irish Brogue. We were poor, what can I say... snort!!
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