RSS
« Undimmed by human tears | Home | “Girl Goes Out,” the Broadway Musical »
This just in
July 7, 2008
I had my cable turned off a couple days ago, and even though I’m unsubscribed, I have yet to unplug and return all of the boxes, so while I can’t actually watch any shows, the wonders of digital TV make it so I can still view the on-screen lineup. In short, I can see what I’m missing.
No, it should not, and will not.
Things I can tell people when they ask me why I do not have cable:
I just don’t think there’s any quality TV worth watching anymore
I’m trying to make my life simpler
I have a lot of projects I’m really trying to focus on right now
I’m avoiding any more bludgeoning of my brain by national news coverage, and therefore, clinical depression
I’m trying to clear my head of all the poppycock
The real reason I do not have cable:
I cannot afford cable
In truth, I really don’t watch that much TV anymore. I catch my two Jon’s a couple times a week, but my biggest setback is that I haven’t slept without the TV on in about 2 years, and I only say 2 years because of that summer I was holed up in a cabin with thirteen other girls as a counselor at a summer camp. The noise-filled nights extended well before then, and besides, I don’t have much of a problem when there are other people in the very close vicinity. Otherwise, I hate the quiet.
I’m writing this at 11:00pm, anxious and a little afraid of a night alone in the harsh silence, and hoping I can manage to sleep hard enough to not hear anything.
Categories: Daily
July 7th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
This will be the best decision you’ll ever make :)
July 7th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I don’t have cable, either.
July 7th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
I went without cable for a semester. I could do it again. The Internet, though, would be much more difficult.
July 7th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Andrea - Oh no, I won’t be going there.
July 7th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
I could never sleep with the TV on– too distracting. Now fans… fans are a great sleep-aid. Just turn it on and let the white noise carry you away.
K.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:31 am
I’d say now might be the time to invest in a few calm CDs, unless you’re trying to wean yourself off noise altogether. I used to only be able to sleep while listening to music, but now I need it quiet. A fan is nice, though.
July 8th, 2008 at 5:34 am
tv is the devil.
Sigh i have been living without one for years now…but my fiance wants one more than she wants air it seems…
.sigh.
July 8th, 2008 at 5:51 am
Before I met my fiance and after we moved in together we both slept like that. We have finally broken ourselves of the habit. What prompted it? My sleep was bad and not restful. Once we stopped having the tv or a movie on, I remembered my dreams more and my sleep was amazing.
July 8th, 2008 at 7:58 am
As I was suckered into three hours of Bachelorette coverage last night - I envy your will power to avoid cable.
July 8th, 2008 at 8:49 am
I can’t sleep without the TV on either. My boyfriend can’t sleep with the TV on. It’s been a struggle for a few months.
A struggle as in I typically leave it on anyway and he gets up in the middle of the night cause he can’t sleep and has to turn it off. I win.
July 8th, 2008 at 8:50 am
I cancelled cable a few months ago for the same reasons. I only started to miss it yesterday when the new season of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations started, but I’m sure I’ll find it on youtube in a day or so…
I also couldn’t sleep without the TV on until I discovered that listening to Harry Potter audiobooks at night put me into a deep sleep after about five minutes.
July 8th, 2008 at 10:20 am
You’d be surprised at how quickly you can adjust to note having TV at all. When I first met my husband, he didn’t have cable, amd the lack of TV didn’t factor in. We didn’t watch the local channels, and sometimes we watched movies, but most of the time we just hung out with each other. We painted, read, danced, took photos, etc. When we moved into our apartment, we didn’t bring the TV with us. Now, if we want to watch a movie, we use the laptop. Other than that, there’s nothing going in that arena in our lives. People always think we’re crazy or judgemental, like we don’t have a TV and think everyone else shouldn’t, either, but it’s really not like that. It just works for us. We both still watch it if it’s on at someone’s house, but we don’t spend a lot of time consumed by it. In the future, we don’t plan on having one after we’ve had kids, so it’s something that they’ll deal with in their way, I guess. :)
July 8th, 2008 at 10:20 am
not* (not note).
Alliteration!
July 8th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Good for you. I always figure that TV is such a waste of time…and I can watch DVDs or waste that time on the Interwebs. As well as get more than enough current news depression from newspaper RSS feeds.
July 8th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Oh, and my solution for the silence is to play music through my computer.
July 8th, 2008 at 10:57 am
I don’t watch tv anyway. If I did I would have it on an all soccer channel preferably in another language. But since that isn’t an option I’ll leave the tv off. There is too much new media to consume or create anyway.
July 8th, 2008 at 11:18 am
i’ve totally thought about giving up the tv too. i don’t watch it at ALL because i can never remember when my favorite shows actually air.
but, i think my boyfriend would have a nervous breakdown if he couldn’t settle in for a long night of the military and history channels.
for me? there’s just things i’d rather be doing.
go you.
July 8th, 2008 at 11:27 am
There really isn’t anything on cable that is a MUST see. It’s not worth the price in my opinion. However, as long as I have it I may as well get sucked into as many bad TV shows as possible haha!
July 8th, 2008 at 11:52 am
I LOVE that I’m not the only one out there that feels this way about TV. I am so close to just getting rid of my TV, but am completely scared as to what I’ll do with my DVDs. I’m just tired of TV being my downtime filler. Makes me just want to be lazier than I really need to be.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
If the sleeping thing is a problem, Kate is exactly right — running a fan in the room will solve the problem instantly.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I always found it really strange that people sleep with the tv on. When I had a roomate in college…or when im sleeping over someone else’s house I always wait until they are asleep and then turn it off. I cant sleep when it is on…and when I do I dream about the tv shows. I dont want to dream that I am on Married with Children again…that was weird.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
You are gonna miss the new season of Flight of the Conchords and Curb Your Enthusiasm!!!
July 8th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
When I studied abroad there was only 1 tv in the apartment for 18 people to share. Oh and there was only 4 stations on it. I thought I was going to die and go through withdrawal. After a while you don’t even notice and you actually get out of the house much more and enjoy the world instead of watching it! But now back to the real world, I’m not sure I would want to do it again!
July 8th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
i just got cable for the first time in almost 5 years this month - and i’m absolutely petrified of it. half of the time there’s nothing i want to watch, and the other half of the time i get so irritated by commercials i end up turning it off before the show i’m watching (usually law & order) is over. maybe you could fall asleep to music instead?
July 8th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
To be honest, I also think there is no quality tv on anymore. To sum it up, I think the quality is gone from most things nowadays. The Internet is stock piled full of useless noise, the tv is stock piled full of junk, and we have to spend hours sifting through the poop just to get to some quality content..like your blog :)
July 8th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Hmm, I can’t decide whether I envy or feel sorry for you. I’ve noticed cable sucking me in more than normal this summer, and I feel guilty because I’d rather spend my time doing other stuff. It is a guilty pleasure, though.
July 8th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
We shut our cable off a month ago and it was super hard for the first week or so but you get used to it. It’s amazing how many more thing I do outside now that I’m not tempted to watch The Real World.
July 8th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I don’t have cable either. I watch shows online days after it airs. Couldn’t survive without internet though.
July 8th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Maybe fall asleep listening to the radio. Then slowly wean yourself off of that too..
Good luck without it.
July 8th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
I haven’t slept with the TV off in at least a decade.
The goofy thing is, Jelly has never in his life slept with the TV off, thus he’s petrified of the dark. If someone rolls over on the remote or the cable goes out at night, he immediately jumps on my chest (or head) and wakes me up.
I’ve often wondered if I could go without cable, but I’m pretty sure Amy would divorce me if I canceled it.
July 8th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
I think cable is almost unnecessary. It really is just a time killer. Almost any decent cable show is available online. I was trying to think of any shows that I would miss if I didn’t have cable–not one that I can think of.
I never understood how people can sleep with the TV on. I’d never be able to sleep. I do sleep with a fan or air purifier on because the littlest noise wakes me.
July 9th, 2008 at 6:34 am
When I met my husband, he didn’t have cable because he didn’t want it. Four years later, we still don’t have it.
Honestly, if we could buy channels a la carte, we would. I miss Turner Classic Movies and he wants Discovery. However, I think because the television isn’t on constantly, we talk much more and we don’t get unnecessarily angry at things we’d see if we were watching.
We still have a television and watch certain shows and plenty of movies on DVD (we have over 500 in our collection). Maybe we aren’t saving the money because we’re still buying our entertainment, but at least our viewing is on our terms — no commercials, no unused channels and no extra box to pay for if we should want to pause, stop or rewind the program. And we don’t have a monthly bill.
I think you made the right choice.
July 9th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
I do wish for a la carte. I’d want Comedy Central, ESPN, CSPAN, and Cartoon Network. I think that would cover it, though.
July 9th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
All I really watch consistently is Good Morning America while I’m getting ready for work. Other than that, my TV is off. It’s nice to have around when you want to catch the weather or whatnot, but falling asleep to Jaws III the other day for an afternoon nap did not create restful sleep.
July 9th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I’ve never had cable. When people ask why my parents won’t get it, I sometimes make up fake conspiracy theories about mind control and the the Wire trying to eat your face (okay, that one was stolen from an episode of Doctor Who). Really, it’s because my mum says we watch too much TV already.
July 10th, 2008 at 5:12 am
i lived without television for 7 whole years. out of those 5 years i didn’t even have acccess to the net 24 hours like i do now. i use to watch tv/cable etc during holidays at home. i saw all the movies in theatre and very recently on the laptop.
i got cable recently and end of every month i have the same message popping up on the screen reminding me to renew the subscription. i don’t ever switch tv on my own unless i am excessively bored.
i don’t think i miss out on too much. :-)
July 10th, 2008 at 10:47 am
I haven’t watched TV in an eon..but I agree it is a good help in falling asleep!
July 10th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Rachel…the radio works wonders for “noise”! I’ve been a radio sleeper for close to 20 years…have hardly gone one night without it!
July 10th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Thanks for your advice everyone. I don’t have a fan, although that would probably be perfect. And I didn’t even consider a radio.
I had no idea so many people were cable-less.
July 12th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Bleh, I can’t afford cable either. My boyfriend keeps begging me to get it because he can’t afford it either but knows I make more money than him. And I’m like, “Monthly Brazilian wax or cable? You pick.”
July 16th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Not having a TV is the best decision in regards to sanity anyone could ever make. I can’t judge, because I like watching shows about Everest once a week, but if I’m not outside for at least five hours a day, I’m not happy.