How To Live Without Television - It Can Be Done!
We humans do not like to give up luxuries that we’ve become accustomed to. When a personal finance blogger suggests that someone in financial peril cut the cable or satellite, the person in trouble often balks at the idea. Who can live without cable in this day and age?
Strangely enough, I can. I didn’t think it was possible. Even as a kid, when we didn’t have cable, my life revolved around the glowing box in the living room. I grew up on “Seasame Street” and T.G.I.F. (back when it was still good). And when I was 8, we moved to a house that was less in the middle-of-nowhere, and got cable. Suddenly my life revolved around all the wonderful shows that Nickelodeon could offer me (oh “Salute Your Shorts,” how I miss you).
By the time we moved back to the middle-of-nowhere house five years later, we were all addicted. We still couldn’t get cable out there, so we mounted a satellite dish on the roof and received the joy of 150 channels - minus the local stuff.
That’s where I think this whole thing began. You get used to saying “I don’t get the local stations.” You get used to not having it anymore. Eventually our satellite brought us local channels too, but we tended to forget they were there, after not having them for so long.
When I went off to college, my dorm offered free basic cable, or you could upgrade to digital cable for a monthly fee. I was puzzled by all of the people I saw grabbing up the digital boxes. What more were they paying for, exactly? I was entirely happy with my free Sci-Fi channel and Comedy Central. And when did they think they were going to have time to watch these excessive channels they were signing up for?
I myself only managed to watch the images on the Magical Moving Picture Box when friends came over to hang out. And usually we dragged my DVD player into the lounge, instead of watching whatever scheduled shows the TV had to offer.
When I moved home this past December, my mother proclaimed that she was going to cancel the satellite to help offset the cost of me living there. I thought about it for a moment - canceling the satellite meant no live television at all. Our feeble “rabbit ear” antenna couldn’t even pick up the local stations for us. I would be cut off, left only with my DVD player for comfort.
But it didn’t really bother me. And the fact is, you can live without TV better today than you could just a few years ago, and here’s why:
- All of the four major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX) offer several of their shows on their website. Despite my lack of TV, I’m entirely on the ball with LOST, Heroes and Grey’s Anatomy.
- TV on DVD has become a major force. It’s how I’ve seen the first seasons of LOST and Grey’s, and the entire series of Angel, Buffy, Firefly and Coupling. And you don’t necessarily have to buy the DVDs new: you could buy them used on eBay, rent them from Netflix, or do what I do: borrow them from your friends!
- There’s more free entertainment on the internet than you could possibly absorb in a lifetime. Yes, not everything on YouTube is worth watching, but then there’s always something like Barats and Bereta that totally is (I recommend the Mother’s Day video to start with).
In about a week, cable will be installed in our new house. And I don’t care.
Read the dramatic conclusion in “How To Live Without Television - Part II”
How To Live Without Television - Part II
Does My Frugal Life Make Me Miserable?
Just Launched: The College Money Network
Poorer Than You is on Strike
Avoid Income Tax Without Calling Down the Wrath of the IRS
When you are without TV for a while, you really don’t miss it! I haven’t watched TV in months. It’s easy to forget it doesn’t exist. When you do have it, it’s easy to waste so much time in front of it. Like you say, DVDs are the way to go if you really like a series.
Comment by Nick in Iraq — July 7, 2007 @ 9:47 am
My mom lives in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere and refuses to get cable (it’s actually a matter of principle for her). For the first week or so after coming home from college every summer, I was certain that I was going to die of sheer boredom. And then I discovered all of the things you do when you’re *not* watching TV - like going for a walk or run, exploring a new part of town, reading a good book or magazine, and hanging out with friends. When I was growing up, I couldn’t wait to have my own place so I could get cable. Once I got my apartment, though, it didn’t seem like such a necessity (though my friends insist that it is). As you said, almost anything you’d want to watch is online anyway, so why bother?
Comment by Pat — July 7, 2007 @ 10:26 am
Amen! I occasionally miss my TV since I moved to a TV-less place in February, but only for events like the Oscars and the Golden Globes — and friends who are watching are always happy to have me over for popcorn and star-wardrobe criticism. Although I will admit to checking Televisionwithoutpity.com in the mornings after Major Reality TV Events so I can talk to coworkers. Love that site and love not wasting ages watching MTV like I used to do.
Comment by Ellen — July 7, 2007 @ 5:36 pm
It’s true. One of the last things I did before graduating college was to sell my TV. I highly doubt I’ll ever buy another. As was already mentioned, a DVD player (in my case in the form of a computer) is more than enough. Remember that every time you move you get 4 new weeks of free trials for both Netflix and Blockbuster (note: I have not done this. But in theory you could. Or at the very least you can trick the people you live with into trying it out so you can choose movies vicariously through them).
And indeed the Internets are a repository of content. Not just YouTube, but there’s plenty of good podcasts out there, and some neat stuff will be coming down the Web 2.0 pipeline in the near future to be sure.
As a general principle I would exhort folks to eschew mindless entertainments as much as they can. I’ve started taking a walk every day and I’ve gotta say, it’s pretty awesome. Reading is something I’ve finally gotten back into doing and I can’t begin to describe how great it is to be back in bookland. Americans do tend to consume way too much television, especially considering that what’s on it just gets dumber and dumber.
“If an American lives with something for 10 days it’s a necessity.” Don’t be that guy. Turn of the TV.
Comment by Peter Mottola — July 9, 2007 @ 11:36 pm
I have a satellite dish and come January I’ll get rid of the service because of the two year contract. There isn’t much of a point to having several hundred channels and only watching 10 of them. I get the local channels through my dish though. My wife and I don’t watch much TV and if we miss shows, they are always available to watch on the Internet. We’re in an information shift where the Internet and radio are starting to dominate what TV, cable, and newspapers used to do. Growing up I probably wasted a lot of time watching TV and now I don’t have time to waste watching TV. There are only a few shows I’m hooked to: Survivor, Amazing Race, Apprentice, and Deadliest Catch. If it wasn’t so expensive to cancel the contract I would just do it now rather than wait. Once I get rid of it though, I might sell some TVs I have because we will only need one.
Comment by Jim — July 10, 2007 @ 3:18 pm
[...] How To Live Without Television - It Can Be Done! by Stephanie @ Poorer Than You. We humans do not like to give up luxuries that we’ve become accustomed to. When a personal finance blogger suggests that someone in financial peril cut the cable or satellite, the person in trouble often balks at the idea. Who can live without cable in this day and age? [...]
Pingback by The Sunday Review #30: About Bad Advertisements And Debt — July 22, 2007 @ 9:00 am
[...] You can read the full article by Stephanie over at Poorer Than You [...]
Pingback by How To Live Without Television | Xaasid Dot Com — July 24, 2007 @ 7:41 am
I have lived in my new place for like a few weeks now and I have yet to watch TV. I normally don’t watch it and don’t find it a great source of entertainment.
Comment by Tyler Ingram — July 26, 2007 @ 11:05 am
Posted this on part 2, but also posting here…
Free TV and movies:
http://www.tv-links.co.uk
Comment by Phillip — July 28, 2007 @ 5:03 pm
I have done both. My life has revolved around the TV schedule and I’ve totally sworn off of TV. Right now the TV is on almost all the time, but I rarely watch anything. I think it’s just habit and background noise. I think it would be great for people to at least lessen the amount of time that they watch TV, even if they don’t totally quit watching it.
Comment by Sandra Bradley — January 20, 2008 @ 5:38 pm
Its hard but not impossible. Like everything, moderation is the key. I’ve reached a point that I’ve reduced my TV time mainly because I realized how angry I was becoming over idiotic/formulaic shows and infuriating commercials.
Comment by Danette Miller — January 20, 2008 @ 6:56 pm
My fondest memories with my two boys happened when we had no TV. One place we lived we just couldn’t get it. Another time lightning ruined our TV. Both times have special memories of our TVless time together.
Comment by Kathy — March 1, 2008 @ 4:14 pm
I had a hard time learning to live without TV, but now that I am used to it, I wouldn’t start watching again! It’s really nice not to have all that noise and those violent images interrupting my dinner.
Comment by Adrian — March 7, 2008 @ 1:51 pm
[...] Save yourself the $20/month. My school offered a basic cable package in the dorms and apartments, for free, and we hardly ever even watched that. If your school doesn’t even offer that much, pick up a set of bunny ears, or just remind yourself that nearly all of the good shows are streaming online now. [...]
Pingback by 300+ Channels in College | Chegg Blog — May 27, 2008 @ 9:58 am