A Month Without TV

[Cypress]

I cut the Charter Cable about one month ago for TV & Internet at home. The first week was a challenge but I am getting used to not having telly available. Since it's summer, when I get home around 5:30 weekdays, I go outside and garden for an hour or two. Or, have other things to do. By the time I fix dinner, it's around 8 p.m. Sometimes I read or get chores done for the next day. I do use the library to borrow DVD's of films to enjoy on weekends.

Overall, it's just an old habit to get out of. I listen to the radio during commute time to keep up with events. I am not a newspaper reader so I am out of the loop on a lot of current events.

My pace when at home has changed as well. Whatever is happening, I've disconnected from. Honestly, being 55 years old, I've lived through a lot of messes and realize it's much like what Thoreau said in Walden. I paraphrase, if you picked up a newspaper in ten years, the stories are the same, only different names. It's good to be informed, but it's okay to be not informed too.

I do plan on picking up internet again in a month. I am in an on-line program studying journalism of all things. But, after two courses, I got tired of keeping up and from what I've learned about journalism, most of what we see and read, at least at the network level, is infotainment. There is a bit of news and a lot of filler.

[JaneV2.0]

Donald Trump has gone a long way toward curing me of my cable news habit. I watch much less TV because of him. I guess he's good for something

[freshstart]

me, too. I fell asleep with the tv on and woke up to him bloviating on c-span of all places that he is the candidate who will make us happy. Because that's what I look for in a President.

will you go back to the journalism courses or try something different?

[Cypress]

Yes, I am planning to continue with a course in the fall: Principles of PR. I've learned a lot about writing, critical thinking and ethics around the written and spoken word. Curious, most of the teachers and readings said be wary of any photographs, always assume they are fakes until proven otherwise.

I really learned that my local news is awful. I thought so but now I can say why. The anchors speak with tone, inflection and emotion to encourage viewers to think a certain way. That's not their job. Maybe weather information is actual news, but everything else is almost filler. The last best newsmen were guys like Walter Cronkite and that era. Those guys were thorough, gave the story straight and stayed out of it. The journalist is supposed to not have a bias.

Anyway, I never watched Donald Trumps TV shows ever. I like light drama and comedy. He's kind of low on the values range for me. He's entertaining is about all. Fills air space. Honestly, the journalists are not helping voters in this election cycle, there were several candidates, there are probably alternative party candidates running, journalism is to bring to the public ALL candidates no matter what they represent. Give ALL a chance, that's fair and balanced.

[razz]

I cut TV before I moved and have not missed it for over 2 years now. I do get online national news from the CBC, US and international news from the Christian Science Monitor newspaper and weekly magazine, my local paper e-edition, a Canadian newsmagazine delivered weekly and the local radio news highlights online.
I feel I am well-informed but keep control of the noise in my home enjoying internet radio classical music from around the world. Life is much more peaceful.
I do enjoy the unlimited internet though.

[Chicken lady]

Lol on the local news. When I was in high school current events we had to bring in a "factual article" for discussion every Monday. I always brought the sports scores or sometimes the weather report (if it had been accurate) my teacher called me on it and I told him "my father says that's the only factual information in the (local paper)"

[jp1]

I lived for 10 years after college without a tv at all and could definitely do so again. SO wouldn't last a day... However, no internet would be a struggle. I don't normally talk on the phone if it's not work related, or every few months with my sister, so the internet is my only non face to face communication method. I also like listening to podcasts and pandora. I could manage podcasts by going to the library or anywhere with free wifi occasionally, but no pandora would be rough. I always like having music on when I'm doing everything from reading to cleaning to whatever.

[Tradd]

I bought a TV about two months ago after not having one for 13 years. People I know were utterly shocked. I just wanted to watch the news and PBS on a bigger screen. I got a digital antenna. There's no way I'm paying for cable. It's on for no more than a couple hours a day unless I'm watching a ball game or a longer program. I love the multiple PBS channel options due to digital TV.

[Cypress]

It's actually two months not one. This month was expensive with a repair to my oven and a major 90K mile tuneup on my trusty Toyota Corolla. On top of that, I decided to pay off my credit card balance. With all this cash going out, I realized the cable bill would have been due now as well. The savings of that $80 was really important right now. I am wiped out and have to start building back savings. BUT, everything is paid for.

So, freedom from cable has been a positive change.

[iris lilies]

Tradd, I know! When tv went digital, we all of a sudden got 3 more PBS stations, it was great! Since then several commercial stations have been added that show old content. There is a lot of pogramming on, but there is seldom/never anythng I want ro watch.

we are big on radio so thats how we get news.

cypress, thanks for the update. Glad to know it is going well.

[oldhat]

I cut the cable 11 years ago when I moved into a new apartment. During that time I've saved at least $7,000 by not having it (which means I've probably earned twice that, given that most of my savings go into mutual funds). I continued to watch some broadcast TV until the digital changeover, but couldn't be bothered getting a converter box and just got rid of my analog TV set.

I still watch some TV--a handful of programs that get streamed online, and stuff on Youtube. My goal continues to be to stop watching TV altogether, but it's been a difficult habit to break while I'm still working, mostly because I'm too tired when I get home in the evening to do anything requiring a lot of energy. I also have more and more difficulty reading in the evenings, since I've been reading off a computer screen all day. I'm hoping that after retirement I'll make more progress in this area.

I used to think that one of the main reasons people (including me) give for watching TV, "keeping up with the news," was a valid one, but in recent years I've come to believe otherwise. Television news, and cable news in particular, has degenerated into breathless horse race coverage of politics, celebrity gossip, and obsessive coverage of disasters that I can't do anything about. Eventually, I hope to be able to ignore most of the "news" altogether.

[bthatch]

I don't think I could do without TV or internet. I like them both for entertainment and I do have a Facebook that I check regularly. A lot of news stuff pops up in my news feed and if I'm interested I'll go to Google to try and find more information. I don't like watching the news on TV honestly. There is too much bias and bullsh** to be honest.

[artist]

We have lived TV free for years now and I have to say that we do no miss it. Our major news source is NPR and major newspapers online, so we are often in the know before many of our friends who rely on TV for their news.

To be honest, I often wonder how we managed when we did spend time watching TV. For us it was a time sink and for the most part did not offer quality entertainment that added value to our lives.

[Teacher Terry]

I need internet for my online teaching and neither my DH or I are interested in giving up TV or cable. Actually we get a lot of bang for our buck. Many movies that we used to see in theaters we just wait for it to be on TV which only takes about a year.