My Observations on a Year Without Television

As of last week it’s been one year since I decided to cancel my television service, and keep just the internet. This is not my first attempt at doing this. About three years ago I stopped watching television for a couple of months. I don’t remember the exact number, but I believe it was more than two. I didn’t completely remove television viewing from my life, but instead I would rent or purchase specific DVDs that I wanted to watch, thus eliminating the time spent viewing programs that were not beneficial to me. My decision to reduce how much television I watched was initially inspired by an article written by Steve Pavlina, who has a great blog on personal development. So, similar to Steve, I’ve decided to reflect on how much my life has changed since I made this decision. The following are a few things I observed during the past year:

I watched too much television

I definitely noticed that I watched too much television in the past. Actually, I started to become more sensitive to the amount of television being watched around me. Whenever I hung out with friends or family I would notice just how much television they watched. It seems like we are constantly inundated with so much mindless television, which tries to do most of the thinking for us, instead of allowing us to think things through. I have to agree with Steve’s observation that:

One reason is that TV oversimplifies reality. You’re presented with subjects in a matter of minutes where everything is nicely wrapped up at the end. Reality is reduced to labels like good or bad, funny or serious, smart or dumb. This harms clear thinking by conditioning you to expect that most problems have a simple, clear solution (and if not, then it will be an overly dramatic solution). But real people and events defy labels. Real life weaves a much richer tapestry than TV, and too much TV viewing can make it hard to see and appreciate that tapestry for what it is. TV skews your map of reality.

I spend too much time on the computer

Similar to Steve, I also noticed that I spend quite a bit of time on the computer. However, I don’t think this is something that I would like to change; at least for the time being. Given my current situation in life, with the goals I am pursuing, I believe this is somewhat necessary. I do plan on revisiting this in the future, because I know that over the long term this will not be a good habit to keep.

I read more

I’ve always been an avid reader, but with the new found time I have been reading even more. In recent months I’ve been able to finish a couple of books that I purchased, but never had the time to read. In a previous article I mentioned that I wanted to actively engage in growing my technical knowledge over the next year, so I went through my Amazon wish list and purchased a slew of books that I wanted to read at some point, and I’m now going through the first batch. Next year I will create a similar reading plan for the rest of the books.

I get more done

Besides reading, I’ve also been able to accomplish or pursue other goals I’ve been wanting to for quite some time. For instance, I’ve been much more active. I started to exercise on a regular basis, which has had a huge impact on my overall health. I’ve also been able to complete a few classes that I wanted to take in the past. There are a couple of other activities that I will be starting in the coming months as well.

I spent more time with my friends

Of all the benefits that reducing the amount of television in my life have done, in my opinion this is by far the best. I’ve become much more social by spending extra time interacting with my friends and family. I believe the results are quite visible, because my relationships are much better. Now, when I’m not working, I actively seek to spend time with friends instead of just watching some television show to pass the time.

I don’t plan on going back

Overall, this change had such a positive benefit on my life that I don’t want to go back. I want this to be permanent. Whether that is the case in the long term, I’m not sure, but I know for certain that the amount of time I spend watching television has been permanently curtailed. There is just too much that could be done with the extra time than wasting it on an activity that often adds no value to my personal growth. I encourage you to take the challenge and see what it does for your life.