“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” – Groucho Marx
When my wife and I moved from New Jersey to Colorado, we decided to try life without cable television.
After all, we were in a new state and a new house and getting ourselves settled in both was our top priority. Since the house was already prewired for cable, we agreed we could always add it later on.
Fast forward three years and you still won’t find cable television in my house. And you know what? We haven’t really missed it.
Beyond the financial rewards of “cutting-the-cord” as the phrase goes, we’ve gotten back something immeasurable and irreplaceable once it’s gone – time.
We once had hundreds of channels at our fingertips. Yet many nights we found ourselves endlessly channel surfing as the minutes turned into hours and we still couldn’t find anything worth watching.
Think about the amount of time you actually have to watch cable television.
For many they spend two hours commuting, eight hours working, one hour shopping, three hours cooking, eating, packing leftovers and cleaning and seven hours sleeping – that’s 21 hours of your day gone.
You’re paying insane rates to the cable company for three hours of viewing time over a five-day period. I’m not a math wizard, but that just doesn’t make any sense.
But seriously, the time we’ve gained back has been invaluable. Suddenly we have more time to enjoy each other’s company in conversation, to read, play the piano, sit outside and revel in nature, go for a walk, catch up on work, learn something new or rediscover something old that you never could find the time for.
Time is not infinite and it’s not until you take away your dependence on television that you realize just how much valuable time you’re wasting.
We’ve not completely abandoned television, we’re just no longer a prisoner to it or it’s high cable price tag. We stream shows for free, rent movies from the local library (also for free) and have plenty more in our personal archives for when a bowl of popcorn comes calling our name on a Friday night.
Chuck Palahniuk once said, “I haven’t had a TV in ten years, and I really don’t miss it. ‘Cause it’s always so much more fun to be with people than it ever was to be with a television.”
Maybe it’s time you give it a try. You might be surprised that once it’s gone, how many other wonderful things you’ll find to fill its place.
