I should first start with an important distinction. It would be terribly unfair to say "television is not worth watching" because, in fact, a good portion of it is well worth watching.
Much of it is not, of course, because the "unblinking eye" really doesn't, and it is frequently necessary to fill up all that time with, well, filler.
But there are a tremendous number of bright, talented people working in television, and there is a good amount of good stuff to watch. So please hold back your defenses of The Simpsons, The Sopranos, and The Daily Show. I know there's good television, and I know that it's worth watching.
But having said that, I still maintain that television, while it may indeed be well worth watching, is also well worth not watching.
I first began not watching television about ten years ago, and my reasons for doing so were not at all high falutin'. I had moved to a new apartment and money was tight, so I procrastinated on getting cable service installed. The air broadcast reception in the area was not great, so I found myself without television for all practical purposes. I put off the call to the cable company for a while. I knew I would get around to calling them eventually.
But I never quite got around to it.
I haven't really missed it, though. There was a little bit of withdrawal at the beginning, but that soon passed. And I didn't find myself out of the loop nearly as much as I might have expected. Television, it turns out, is everywhere. Even if you don't watch it.
I have a basic working knowledge of the names and faces of the current television celebrities, even though I have not seen most of them perform. They smile at me (or duck from me, depending on the particular publication) in the supermarket checkout line. I am aware, for example, that someone by the name of Matt Lauer was dumped by someone else once. That's probably as much as I need to know on the subject. I know that Oprah is a very important person, even more important now than she was ten years ago when I last saw her show in its entirety.
I do keep up with the news, although not with the help of our television anchors. I am aware that most of the major anchors have been replaced by other anchors. I read about it in the newspaper.
I once saw a cartoon in the New Yorker that struck me as quite funny. A couple at a cocktail party was speaking to another couple at the party. The woman in first couple was explaining to the other couple:
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
Excellent, excellent work on this! My own experiences echo yours in many ways. I do have the added pressure of appearing monthly on a radio show to discuss... wait for it... television!
Okay, I discuss pop culture, which often includes television. It's delightful, discussing shows I've never seen, entirely on the basis of what I've read about them.
But I do download Lost from the internet. I allow myself one show. It's a weakness!
What I don't miss most are the commercials. The shows that are really good I can catch on DVD or via download, and commercial-free!
Anyway, *great* article. Thanks!
2 - Victor Lana
Very enjoyable, Jumper. The merits of not watching television are many, especially when you have children. This can affect parent TV times too, but we have a policy of TV off at 8pm and then having story time (reading books) before bed. It has become a routine and it also proves that it's worth not watching television.
Oh, and to be honest, I tape 24 and The Shield , so I'm not depriving myself of what I want to see.
3 - Brian Sorrell
Pure brilliance!
I was off television for about 10 years, during which time I got two undergraduate degrees and a graduate degree, learned to play guitar, learned some basic audio engineering, wrote obsessively, and discovered that the 3-5 second chunks in which television is delivered (watch the epileptic editing closely) has a dreadful effect on one's perceptions of the world.
We've been back on television for a few years, but just last week, we started to phase it out again. It turns out that we only use it for documentaries and independent films, which we can get from Netflix anyway.
Plus it's more fun to try to kick my wife's butt in Monopoly or Sorry with some beers and chips. The neighbors must think we're nuts, screaming at each other about putting houses on St. Charles Place..... But it's a good life :)
4 - Welfare Cheese
If anyone ever catches me playing Monopoly or Sorry and having a great time... please shoot me in the temple.
5 - Jumper Bailey
Which temple? I've been a visitor to a few different temples (and one mosque) with friends since I started not watching television.
Of course, one of the benefits on non-TV watching is the ability to enjoy board games and other things that don't have exploding special effects.
Unless, of course, you like to add exploding special effects to your board games.
If so, I recomend this.
6 - Tiffany Leigh
I'm all over this post. I heart this post very much.
I was between apartments for over three months in Manhattan two years ago, crashing on a friend's couch. She didn't have a television, just a radio. I was itchier than a kicking heroin heroine. (Not to mention that the Red Sox were in the playoffs that year, which was killing me not to be able to see).
And much like you, the damnedest thing happened: I didn't miss it so much once I got my TV privileges back. I caught all the games on the radio, which was old-school thrilling.
I used to tune in for specific shows but got turned around inevitably and started grazing - watching without specific choices or purpose in mind. Non-destination watching. I was glad to relinquish the feeling.
And with The Internets™ & XM radio I'm further ahead of the curve for my news/culture/television anyway. Television is Last To Know most days.
When I want to see a movie I go to the theater. Or I watch it on DVD on my laptop. When I want to watch a television show I wait for DVD and watch commercials (which are incredibly frequent & annoying when you're off the reservation for a spell).
And if I need my "water cooler" talking points on The Desperate Lost OC Etc. I either go online or listen to my co-workers that are professional television watchers - ones that watch EVERYTHING and speak of the goings-on as if recounting family reunions.
I didn't want to get all NPR-ish about unplugging - remember the Y2K navel-gazing? - but I do like the fact that I read more, write more, and am less concerned about "missing" something.
PS = (Geek Spoiler Alert): If Monopoly & Sorry & "party games" are your gaming references you've been scratching the tip of a very old iceberg. Boardgames are an exponentially growing industry in the states with lots of superior booming migration occurring from Europe since 1994. It's a brave new world now. =)
7 - Bliffle
I, too, have frequently enjoyed long periods free of TV, but sometimes I missed good documentaries. Lately, I think I have found the ideal middle-ground: OTA DTV. "OTA" is for Off the Air signals delivered free to your home, just like the old days! No cable. No satellite. No fees. And "DTV" is for Digital TV. DTV is terrific! The picture is clear, steady and free of ghosts. What's more, every analog TV broadcaster is required to broadcast the same content on DTV, usually given a UHF channel to use.
You can receive OTA DTV off that old analog antenna on your roof, or from one of a variety of indoor antennas, all you need is a DTV receiver, which you can get for $200 at WalMart, or an even better one on eBay for $100 (or less). Most DTV receivers also receive HDTV (High Definition TV), which is spectacular, and even better than cable/satellite HDTV.
To see the full beauty of DTV you should have a new display (or use your computer!) to show all the resolution and color. Plasma displays are pretty but prohibitively expensive, LCD displays are still expensive, but you can buy an excellent CRT HDTV display for $200-$300 because the stores are dumping them in favor of the new LCDs.
But the money and trouble are all in vain if the content is unsatisfying. I find that with the major networks OTA (NBC,CBS,ABC,UPN,FOX), and a couple local independents, and the PBS stations, I actually have better content with a smaller number of channels. DTV provides for multiple feeds on one channel, so that the local PBS can send 4 feeds during the day so that I have a richer content selection than I ever had with cable. Fewer commercials, too, since the commercial stations now use 20 minutes of every hour for ads.
8 - Welfare Cheese
Bliffie, the next time you are on your roof fixing your antenna, I hope you fall off the cabin, land on your Model T and choke on a hotel. Get cable you cheap bastard.
9 - Jumper Bailey
Hey, I'm a cheap bastard. Don't be hatin' on cheap bastards.
10 - Bliffle
Actually, of course, Cheese is wrong, as one would expect from his previous posts. DTV is the very latest TV. It is cable and satellite who are outdated, peddling trashy content in an unwatchable format.
Go digital! It makes TV worth watching again.
11 - Welfare Cheese
Who doesn't have digital cable? It is $2.99 a month for the digital box. You can't even get HBO on comcast with an analog box. Almost every satellite channel comes in digital. I had digital cable for years. Sorry Bliffie you're not cutting edge. I heard they have this new "broadband" internet service, can you please explain? (keep it simple for us non-techies)
12 - Bliffle
The cheesy one is wrong again. Digital cable is around $50-60 per month and is not as good as OTA digital. Why pay so much money just to get content polluted with 33% commercials? Pay to get commercials? Not for the wiser among us.
13 - Scott Butki
Color me impressed with this essay.Very cool and well written.
14 - Welfare Cheese
Bliffle, 2.99 for the digital box in addition to the cost of basic cable. Have you heard of a DVR? No commercials for me, thanks. Congress is set to mandate that all signals be digital by 2008. Get Hi-Def and you will realize how shitty digital really is.
15 - Nancy
Ah, Jumper, this is a GREAT article - if I could write, I would have written it myself; you hit every nail on the head unerringly, at least as far as my own experiences are concerned. Thanks.
16 - Stasey
I could get you into LOST. ;-)
17 - Jer
This is a great piece. My wife and I recently reduced our cable package to limited basic. I personally would have preferred to have it altogether eliminated. I have most certainly found that we are far more active and innovative in ways to entertain ourselves without the medium. Moreover, consumer impulses are immensely reduced. Without sounding pretentious, I have felt that television is utterly absurd for the past decade. It is just a device to get people to buy more crap that they don't need and it beats the self-esteem unmercilessly. It is so warped and divorced from reality it is laughable. People in the future will call us morons for being duped by it. KILL YOUR TELEVISION.
18 - Blue
After Six Years without television...and for similar reasons, I experienced all of the points you brought up, plus two:
1. Weight loss. I still cant figure out why, but I think it has something to do with moving more (rather than sitting in front of the box) and TV snacking. Without TV, I snacked less for some strange reason.
2. More contact with neighbors, friends and family. Telephone calls are great boredom cures.