Kill Your TV

...no really.

I am not a crazy anarchist, or even an extreme activist, but I have seen great benefits come from not having a television or mass amounts of media in my life recently.

About 3 months ago, I would check IMDb at least once a day. I am a film person, I went to university for it, and so it was quite an interest of mine. I wanted to be caught up on what movies had come out, who was working on this, who was being honored with awards and, yes, a little bit of who was dating who. For a few days I had been busy and for one reason or another hadn't gone onto the site. Then I thought, maybe I should see if I can not go on for longer, can I really do this? I think at the point when I really wanted to go to it and had to shut the computer and walk away, was when I realized I guess I was slightly addicted to it. Now, I am at a place where I could kind of care less. I actually hadn't realized that X-Men: First Class had come out until I saw an ad for it on Google. This was the first step in me understanding what role I want media playing in my life.

When Ben and I were in China, especially this last trip, we were on media overload. I basically slept, ate, watched television and exercised, while watching television. I was watching American Idol, like we had to get home from dinner so I could watch it. Now I understand this was partly because I was feeling incredibly isolated and wanting my own culture and interaction desperately. Either way, I had become accustom to watching television, which I hadn't had before. When I got back home, that feeling of being starving for community could be fulfilled by hanging out with anyone I ever knew, any time I could, leaving no time or longing for TV. We had a television in the living room that we used mostly for movies or gatherings. I decided I didn't want it taking up space anymore, and we chose to move it out of the living room. I was never a huge fan of television and aside from China, I hadn't watched television much since high school. But even with the level that I watched, getting rid of the TV was one of the best decisions I have made in recent history.

Recently, Ben and I were doing some moderate yard work. He looked at me and said something like I hate yard work, why did we buy a house? I responded that I didn't mind it so much. What else would we be doing? We both looked at each other and said watching TV? That was confirmation enough to me that living without a television was a good idea. I have so much extra time and so much less thought spent on media. I feel like I am going over to the dark side of hippy-ism by saying this, but my brain feels less cluttered. This combined with my listening primarily to NPR or our local station, WYEP, have made me rather unaware of what is going on in mainstream media. I have become ignorant to who the rising star is, what films to look for and, right, who is sleeping with who. This is an ignorance that I have been glad to accept, one that has made me a happier me.

I would encourage you to take some time away from your television and media. I have heard before that people do media fasts or have one day a week without media. I am sure that this could be effective. Though, I would prefer the extreme of turning all of the televisions into fish bowls.

How much television do you watch? Do you consume it via the interwebs? Have you tried to do a media fast or decrease your amount of watching?