How to Eschew Television

Television is king in our culture, offering a democratic distribution of high quality entertainment and dreck. Sure, there are incredible shows to watch, shows with good writing, excellent acting and important content--but this is your life we’re talking about. The tube dominates the days of most Americans, swallowing up evenings, weekends and entire school holidays. Yet this isn’t inevitable! There is life without television, without commercials, without a constant barrage of changing images; follow these steps to learn how to eschew television.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Take note of your television viewing hours; if you have a hard time thinking realistically, make a television journal for a week, noting the hours spent and the shows watched. No need to note plotlines.
2. After a week, look at your journal, and rate the shows you watched from memory; did you enjoy them? Were they worth those hours of your life?
3. Make other plans for nights you would be watching the less highly rated shows: spend quality time with your family, take your kid out to a movie, play a board game, have friends for dinner, go bowling, paint a picture, read a new novel or go grocery shopping when the cool people are out.
4. Nurture your dreams; if you’ve always wanted to _________, perhaps those television watching hours are available to pursue that dream: take night classes to become a chef, study nuclear physics, learn French, meditate, write a graphic novel/screenplay, create a web-comic with a high hit count, save the Polar Bears, see the world. Start thinking about how you can make your dream happen.
   
   
5. Turn off the television, even when those must-see shows are on, the ones discussed around the water cooler. You won’t die if you don’t find out what happened to Jim when he went out on the boat with Slim, not realizing that Slim was his secret enemy/half-brother, intending to kill him. But you might if you don’t take care of your body and soul.
6. Enjoy your mental freedom from noise, commercials, consumer culture, stereotypes and passive entertainment; get enough sleep, nurture friendships and family, take charge of your dreams, join a gym, walk the dog, start a hobby. Life is too short to spend it watching others pretending to live.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember, you only get so many hours of life to spend, they are not limitless; as mothers say, “Make good choices!”
• No need to make a manifesto about your tubeless lifestyle, simply say “No” when asked if you saw last night’s episode of whatever is hot at the moment, eventually people will stop asking. If you make a big deal out of it, seeking converts to your television-free lifestyle, no one will talk to you about anything.
• Most Americans are sleep-deprived because of television viewing. You’ll be amazed how much better you feel after a succession of good nights’ sleep.
• Obesity among children has been linked to television watching and the resulting sleep deprivation; watch how much easier it is for your kids to do homework, succeed in school and manage their daily rituals when they’re not relying on extra calories to keep going.
• No need to be completely clueless about popular culture; go out to the latest movies, or rent them to watch at home--just choose your viewing time carefully. Movies contain no commercials, and are finite, unlike television, which goes on, and on, and on…
• Get your kids onto the television-free bandwagon by a) emphasizing the brainwashing tendencies and conformist purposes of television (kids love to be rebels), b) removing televisions from the environment completely, c) suddenly being emotionally and physically available and/or open to having their friends over for dinners, game nights, sleepovers, video festivals and trips to the mountains or seashore.
• If you’d like to quit television, but don’t feel you have the will-power, enlist the help of a trusted friend and buddy-up to eschew the tube; go out to dinner together, join a team, discover the active life that exists during those watching hours--even if you find yourselves sneaking back in for a favorite show, you’ll be doing it socially.
• Too many empty hours? Adopt an animal that needs you; if you have time and space available, you may be the perfect person to take in a special needs pet who requires more effort for care or rehabilitation than most people can afford. The care you give will come back to you in unconditional love.
• Don’t replace television with computer time; hours in front of a computer screen can help you follow your dreams, or they can suck up your waking hours into a limitless black hole. Ditto video games, hand held gaming devices, massively multiplayer online games and bingo.