Comments on: Reducing TV Watching

By: karen

karen — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 08:52:56 +0000

I used to be addicted to tv. for years whilst living with my ex. After eleven and a half years we split up and i stopped watching tv the day he went. I realised we only spent all day and night watching it so we didn’t have to speak to each other. I have three kids and have been without a tv for nine years now. My partner and i have three kids at home and two computers in the living room which we watch dvd’s on when we feel like it otherwise we just listen to lots of music and the children sit downstairs on the computers. When i go to somebody elses house i can’t take my eyes off the tv. so i know if i ever had one i would be sucked in but it is incredibly easy to go without. I use my time resting to music, reading, baking, thats about it really. What is annoying is kids asking my children if we are too poor to own a tv. Even the teachers use tv programmes regularly for homework projects and the last GCSE exam for R.E. had a question in it concerning soaps. Relax and throw away the junk machine.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 15:45:07 +0000

I just couldn’t bring myself to do it… I love TV too much :/

By: TC

TC — Tue, 24 May 2005 14:22:07 +0000

We also felt the need to cut back on TV…eventually to the point of cancelling our cable. We do, however, LOVE to watch film. So here’s our solution:

I placed the TV under a glass table with a tapestry over it. Most of the week, it’s just a “table” over in another part of the room. We hardly think about it. Since our DVDs arrive by post now, we flip up the tapestry when we want to view a great film. Then, when we’re done, it’s hidden and “out of our life” once again.

By: Froh

Froh — Tue, 24 May 2005 12:01:28 +0000

I reduced my “TV time” to almost zero involuntarily

When I moved into my (current) apartment I placed the TV in the living room, right in view from the couch and the dining table. The TV was always running when I was in the living room - often I turned it on when I was having dinner, so there’d be “some noise” in my apartment (I was single at that time I’d often keep stuck in front of the TV for the whole evening, just zapping from channel to channel watching parts of (junk) shows just until the next commercial break.

Since I really *like* watching some good films (and even some shows I always wanted to create a special corner for watching TV. I had some unused space on the (argh, how to say it in english? In German it’s called a “Galerie”, it’s kind of a balcony within my apartment). However, there was some unused space up there and one day I put some nice chairs there and asked a friend to help me carry up the TV there.

From the day on I had to walk up stairs to watch TV my viewing habits drastically changed. I only went to watch TV consciously, I didn’t turn it on on reflex anymore. Okay, when I watch in the evening I still stay in front of TV until my eyes fall shut - but now this is what I plan to to when I climb up the stairs to the TV. Or often I don’t switch to “public TV” anymore at all, I just pop a DVD into the player and watch a nice movie (WITHOUT commercial breaks

For me using the TV *consciously* instead out of reflex made all the difference. There was I time I didn’t watch TV at all (instead I was going to the movies), but since my baby daughter was born last year (obviously I’m not single anymore … we watch DVDs at home more often again.

So, my whole point on this long rant is: Using the TV out of reflex is a real killer. To reduce “TV” time, put it out of the bedroom or living room (if you have the possibility …) and use it more the way you go to the cinema: Plan to watch the stuff you really like and keep out all the junk. And switch to alternatives for news: For example here in Munich we have an excellent news radio channel, which allows me to catch up on the day’s events while communting …

By: Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy — Tue, 24 May 2005 00:47:34 +0000

Thanks Steve
I just posted an article on my blog that I wrote several years ago about unplugging myself from technology for awhile. It had a profoundly positive effect on me.

By: Bert Plat

Bert Plat — Mon, 23 May 2005 18:58:17 +0000

Actually, this is one thing that I’m naturally good at. I dumped television years and years ago, when I noticed that we weren’t actually watching it. It also saved somewhat on cost (long time ago we used to have to pay a license fee…). Nowadays, we do have television, but it’s usually tuned to CBeebies — the BBC Children’s Channel — which helps my kids to understand and even speak some English. My wife and I do not watch television at all. On the few occasions that I try to watch I show, I usually grab a book after a couple of minutes…

By: GBGames

GBGames — Mon, 23 May 2005 17:32:45 +0000

I remember when I visited some family in Canada as a child. A bunch of us were in the living room, and I kept glancing over at the television that was off, waiting for someone to turn it on.

I realized that television in America has become so normal that it becomes the background even when visiting.

I don’t watch television except when I visit people who do. I still need to increase my capacity to get things done, but the fact that I wasn’t watching television made it easier to give up on it entirely.

By: Insomniac

Insomniac — Mon, 23 May 2005 09:44:50 +0000

Dumping TV watching is a GREAT idea. One idea is to take the TV and put it in a closet.

By: MichaelVH

MichaelVH — Mon, 23 May 2005 02:52:20 +0000

At one point I liquidated my television, vcr and videogame systems along with cancelling my cable. It made me aware of the amount of television and my veiwing paterns simply because I would sit down to do something and would actually watch television and preform another task.

My living arrangement has changed and sense then their is a television set in our main room and I find myself watching a few shows weekly but in general, no where near the amount I used too after adjusting my lifestyle.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 23 May 2005 02:20:22 +0000

I think TV watching is one of those unconcious habits that we perform without realizing it. It’s so easy just to watch TV, as opposed to other forms of entertainment/education. I find myself watching a lot of TV when I don’t have anything scheduled. I think the key to removing my TV watching habit is to have a replacement for it.

I think you could compare watching too much TV to overeating. We don’t overeat because we are either hungry or because it is of good value to our health. We just do it unconciously.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Mon, 23 May 2005 02:12:50 +0000

“If you’re getting such a good value out of it not”…

Was that a freudian slip?

By: Zara

Zara — Sun, 22 May 2005 23:43:40 +0000

You’re doint a great job, Steve. Thanks for the advice and effort. In fact I have even taken up a 30 day challenge myself - to Study for 5 hours each day after coming from college and before sleeping.