For the last month I have been listening to people talk about what their New Years Resolutions will be. I have never been one who made resolutions. It always seemed silly to me. I have never understood the whole New Years Eve thing either, but that is a different post.
People make resolutions to be better people and do things they think they should in order to be better people. I never understood why they didn't aspire to do those same things all the time. They make a resolution. A week later they have broken it and it's as if they had to wait until the next New Year to try it again. I don't get it.
This year I am going to try a few new things. I am not Resolving to do them, it is just a coincidence that these new things will begin on or around the New Year. Semantics.
There are the things I have been working on for the last couple of years, that will continue.
Spending more quality time with my wife and son.
Spending more time in my studio painting and shooting photographs.
Working on my French tongue. Maybe I will try Spanish as well.
Sharing my madness with all of you.
Finding a cure for dullness...
The list is too large to go on and on.
The big thing I want to try.
Wait for it.......drum roll.....
Life without television.
No, seriously. Think about it. What would I really be giving up?
?????
Wait, I'm thinking about it.....still thinking......still thinking......
Alright, I give. What?
Every month I spend $80 so we can sit and stare at this box in the corner and complain that there is nothing worth watching. Sure, I love the Cartoon Network. Sometimes the Travel Channel. I have grown a fondness for Studio 60, but that's about it. Most of the time I spend in front of the tube is endlessly flipping channels or watching reruns of things I have seen thousands of times. Honestly I don't even need the TV for those. I can play them in my mind. And I can watch them in my mind without commercials.
On average Americans watch one to two months worth of TV per year. If I'm average, I have lost about 5 years of my life so far to TV.
How sad is that?
More important is that I don't want Mr. Man to grow up thinking it's alright to waste his days and nights in front of the TV. Already I watch in horror when his eyes glaze over and his expression goes blank. You can see his little mind turning to jello before your very eyes. I want to try and shield him from the world of materialism, greed, corruption and violence that fills the airways, for as long as I possibly can.
I know that turning off the TV wont solve the worlds problems, but it's a good place start.
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2 comments:
Do it! You won't regret it. We tossed ours out in 1999 and haven't looked back. We rent movies and watch them on our computer. My son has never lived in a house where there is a TV. My daughter was three when we got rid of it. Last year during the school year she read nearly 200 books and my six year old read almost 100. It was one of the best decisions we ever made. I'll be your support group! :)
I never got rid of my TV because we use it to watch movies, but I rarely use it for anything else. it has been over five years since I've watch TV with any regularity and sometimes the TV with go weeks on end without being turned on. good luck! and from experience, it gets much easier after a few weeks and you figure out how to best occupy your time.
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