TV Sucks
Over on The Simple Dollar there is a great article titled “Ten Financial Reasons to turn of your TV“.
I hate TV.
TV is probably the single biggest Evil in America today.
TV is either responsible for, or has had a huge hand in the following….
- Obesity
- Consumerism and Consumer Guilt
- Lack of Community
- Escapism and Procrastination
- The decline of culture, (TV IS the culture)
The report does a great job of putting the cost of Television in real dollars, when you add it all up:
- $720 a year for cable/satelite bill (Remember when it was free?)
- $40 a year in electricity
- Thousands of dollars spent in new TV “Hardware” (HDTV, Tivo’s, Satelite Dishes, etc.)
And then of course there’s the HOURS and HOURS of wasted time, sitting on your ass, whilst your ass gets huge.
But worst of all, the price we’ve paid with our addiction to TV is community.
Long gone are the days of yore in America where you actually talked to your neighbors, instead of watching people talk to their neighbors on Melrose place.
Today we, as Americans, care more about whose winning on American Idol than whose winning in Iraq.
When I go to parties or events, what do people talk about?
What’s on TV. TV is our culture, and the price we’ve paid is a loss of the moment, a loss of the here and now, we schedule our lives around network programming, and care far more about the lives of those stranded on Lost than we do about the neighbors we’ve never visited who live 30 feet away.
I’m not saying there isn’t quality TV. I mentioned Lost, that’s a quality show.
My point is TV, whether crap like Springer, or good shows like Lost, is in itself an escape from the moment, something this country has become acustomed too.
Ditch the TV, cancel the cable, sell the Tivo, save some money, and reclaim your life and the moment.
If all else fails, you can go to your neighbors house and watch TV.
restless — On 4-9-2007 at 2:14 pm
Let’s face it, the one, still-shining facet of America to us and to the rest of the world is out “entertainment” industry if you can call it that. Everyone is in thrall to this I think in part because it represents some creativity and self-expression that most of us don’t get to exhibit in our jobs. There’s always the dream that one can write a screenplay or get on a reality show or become an American Idol and thus escape the petty dictatorships of the jobs we find ourselves in. And there are unique shows and entertainments being produced amongst all the slop. But each to his own trough as far as that goes. I’m in the midst of a gigantic TV-show rental project on netflix and just finished watching the entire 1st season of HBO’s Rome, which wasn’t as hot or as good as I thought it might be. Same goes for Entourage, which I turned back in after watching less than 2 of the episodes. Next is The Wire, which I’ve heard is truly outstanding. But that’s what my tv is used for and so I find myself really out of it at times when I’m at jobs and they all talk talk talk endlessly about shows present and past. I’ve also noticed a particularly repellant angle to this type of conversation: attempting to determine the age of the person you are talking with by referring to television shows of one’s youth. Jeezus, what next?
Kevin — On 4-10-2007 at 6:45 am
Lost is tripe!
Jane — On 4-11-2007 at 4:05 am
Garrison and I gave up our TV almost 9 years ago and we’ve only regretted it once - on 9/11/2001. We spent hours at our neighbors’ home and shared the experience with them. We were then able to “stop” watching after a couple of days and were not glued to the TV for weeks like many were. I have no clue what people are talking about when they start discussing TV programs, the new channels, etc. When asked about a show, I always say I don’t have a TV and it shocks people, especially when I tell them it has been almost 9 years. Then they think about it and most say “you’re not missing anything”. Exceptions seem to be people who watch sports and teenage kids who think we are dinosaurs and weirdos. We do have a 48″ flat screen and a PS 3 for watching movies and playing games, though