Cutting the cord is the latest trend when it comes to television entertaining. Gone are the days when you’re held prisoner to cable companies and contracts which charge outrageous prices for programming you’ll never watch in an 24-hour day. Streaming services are now all the rage. But while they may be less expensive, streaming services are addictive – costing you time you’ll never get back. Let me explain.
I cut the cord when my wife and I moved from New Jersey to Colorado as sort of a test to see if we could do without. As you’re often busy unpacking and organizing your new home, there isn’t really much time for television at the end of a busy (and often exhausting) day.
So when we were finally settled into our new home, we went with nothing more than a digital antenna on the one television set we owned. Yes, that’s one television set for the entire house.
Initially, you were hard pressed to find anything interesting on antenna television. But we weren’t quite ready to give up the $150 a month savings we were previously paying to Verizon.
As the months (and years) went by, we discovered that our television viewing habits changed and reduced dramatically. In fact, there are actually days when we never turn on the television at all.
Suddenly we found ourselves with something everyone is always complaining they don’t have enough of – time. Giving up this one mindless activity gave us back time to write, read, take a few classes, bake, cross a few weekend chores off the to-do-list on a Tuesday night, go for a walk, sit outside and enjoy nature, have meaningful conversations, you name it!
But then I signed up for a month-long subscription to Disney+. Did I mention that streaming services are addictive?
I originally signed up with the sole purpose of watching Hamilton the Broadway Musical, which I wanted to see on stage but wasn’t willing to pay high ticket prices for (it was amazing by the way!).
You watch one musical here, a documentary there, a network series or two and before you know it all that extra time you found yourself with has vanished.
Streaming services are additive. They may cost you less money than you were paying to the cable companies, but they rob you of valuable time you simply can’t put a price on.