Giving Up TV
June 20th, 2006 by Steve Pavlina
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It’s been over a year since I wrote about reducing TV viewing, and since then several readers have told me about their experiences giving up television completely. Some claimed not to have watched any TV in years. Reported benefits included better mental clarity, (desired) weight loss, exploring new hobbies, better relationships, more energy, higher productivity, greater emotional stability, and even better sex. A few people told me it was one of the best lifestyle changes they’ve ever made for themselves and their families.
As you can imagine, this eventually got to me, and I realized that my TV viewing habits could use a makeover. My whole family did a 30-day TV fast in 2004, which was definitely beneficial, but afterwards I still stuck with a couple shows I really enjoyed, such as The Simpsons. Since I work from home, I often watch DVR-recorded shows during lunch. Even though I don’t watch a lot of TV, I’m intrigued by the overwhelming benefits others reported after much longer periods with no TV.
First, I decided to try to become more aware of what TV was doing for me. Without changing my viewing habits, I attempted to observe them more consciously. Were my favorite shows as entertaining as I thought? I noticed that even during a Simpsons episode I considered very funny, I barely laughed at all (Doh!). I mostly just thought it was clever. I compared this to spending time with friends where we’d typically share many genuine laughs together. Hmmmm…
The next thing I did was to decouple TV viewing from meals. I began eating lunch in silence, while talking to my wife and/or son, while reading or listening to audio programs, or even while continuing to work. I noticed that without the food, watching TV was rather boring. Without TV to distract me, I started paying more attention to what I was eating for lunch, so I began preparing higher quality meals with greater variety. When watching TV I’d often make a sandwich or a veggie burger, but I started making curried chick peas and other interesting dishes after realizing that my lunches had become boring too. The simple act of decoupling TV from meals raised my awareness of the blandness of both.
Incidentally, a common challenge in personal development is that we must sometimes take a step backwards in order to take two steps forward. My attempt to raise my awareness of my TV viewing habits made both the TV shows and my meals more boring — a seemingly negative result. This is like being in an unfulfilling relationship where acknowledging how bad it is may initially make you feel even worse. But when there’s no path forward, that’s when we need to shift into reverse, admitting that our forward path is blocked and will not lead us to joy. Once we back out of the quagmire of stagnation, we can reassess the situation and explore another path where the long-term results look far more promising.
After seeing that my TV habits were basically a dead-end in terms of their potential entertainment value, I decided to begin another 30-day TV fast, and after that I’ll assess if I want to drop TV for good. I started at the beginning of the month, so I’m more than halfway through it already. I’m still open to DVD rentals when there’s something I really want to see, but I’m not watching any broadcast shows. My only exception is that I’ll watch the episode of Criss Angel Mindfreak that includes my wife (we don’t know when it will be airing yet — the latest update was that they liked the footage so much they may turn that episode into a special; the downside is that this will likely delay its airing).
I’ve noticed that without TV as my so-called entertainment, I feel a greater impulse to enjoy other forms of entertainment and especially to do more traveling. My wife and I went on vacation to Newport Beach last week, and I’m already wanting to take another trip. I’ll also be playing disc golf again later this week. I remember one of the other no-TV readers telling me that his family started spending a lot more time outdoors as well.
I’ll see how it goes, but at this point I’d say the chance of me giving up broadcast and cable TV for good is high. I’m seeing that TV is a pretty weak form of entertainment compared to the alternatives.
One thing I really like about running this site is that you, my readers, continually push me to grow. I doubt I would have even thought about giving up TV if not for the stories people sent me. We all have blind spots in terms of living consciously, and it’s helpful to have someone else point them out… even when our natural tendency is to be resistant at first. 
June 20th, 2006 at 8:24 am
[…] Steve Pavlina wrote about Giving up TV. Giving up TV used to be a rather dramastic action but not any more. When I talk to my friends, many of them actually don’t have a TV routine any more, instead they now have a internet routine. It is not news that teenagers spent all their time in myspace; It is not uncommon that we seek out news site from time to time. My wife does not care about tv series, but she won’t miss any updates on a novel series published in a forum. Nowadays, for many of us, TV is really not a problem, internet is. […]
June 20th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
[…] I came across an article by Steve Pavlina about abstinence from watching TV and it is actually something I have personal experience with. When I was 15 I went to a boarding school for one year and it was a very educational experience. We lived in small houses with space enough for 8 boys and girls - or in my case just boys, as I was unfortunate enough to be placed in the only house that was all boys. Although the house had a TV we could use, there were so many social activities that it was hardly ever in use. I lived at the school for one year and saw practically no TV at all. It made me realize a few interesting points about watching television. […]
June 21st, 2006 at 2:45 pm
[…] Zoom back to 2006. Here I am on the edge waiting jump from metro to rural in seven days. A friend emails me an article on living a more productive life. One of the links on the page is to an entry titled “Giving Up TV”…. The thought was already in my head and the article just pushed it off the edge. Why not? I’m jumping away. So I’m moving without a TV. […]
June 23rd, 2006 at 9:46 am
[…] Giving Up TV […]
June 28th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
[…] Giving up TV. If you want to stay focused on what you do want, it would be wise to start blocking sources that flood your mind with thoughts of what you don’t want. TV is filled with negative images, especially TV news programs, so it’s a prime killer of positive intentions. I’ve noticed that after doing without it for about four weeks now, my thinking has become noticeably more focused. I’m technically still doing my 30-day trial, but I see no reason to re-addict myself when the trial ends. […]
August 9th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
[…] In June I decided to do a 30-day trial of no TV watching. DVDs were OK, but I wasn’t going to watch any regular programming or cable shows or tape anything with my DVR. At the end of the 30-day trial, I was pleased with the results, so I kept going. Now that it’s been over 60 days, I thought I’d share my observations on life without TV. […]
August 11th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
[…] Blogger Steve Pavlina did a social experience a couple of months ago when he decided to live without television for 30 days. He liked it so much that he expanded the experiment for 30 more days. Here’s a post where he share his most important learnings so far. […]
August 14th, 2006 at 6:41 am
[…] I assure you not everything I publish is a rant. I’m just feeling feisty lately… my latest target is television. A few people have described their experience with a month without TV and I’m following suit. My roommate and I had talked about dropping Comcast for months now because, frankly, that’s too much money to pay for a lot of crappy channels. In this day and age I should be able to pick and choose. Since nobody is offering the a-la-carte TV package we decided to opt out entirely. Besides, we’d rather waste away in front of the computer than the television… […]
September 15th, 2006 at 4:29 am
[…] A lot of people know that Steve has given up watching television and I’ve received a lot of requests asking if I plan to give it up as well. The short answer is, no, I’m not planning to give it up, and here’s why. […]
September 24th, 2006 at 8:23 pm
[…] What would we have to gain from giving up most of that television watching? Families will start talking with each other again, according to many anecdotes. Here’s some additional benefits: “better mental clarity, (desired) weight loss, exploring new hobbies, better relationships, more energy, higher productivity, greater emotional stability, and even better sex.” People will knit themselves back into communities. For those viewers who fail to be highly selective, sitting and watching television is one of those modern activities (another is being a sports spectator) that gives the illusion that one is doing something when one is actually doing nothing. As long as one is under the illusion that one is doing something, one will be oblivious to any suggestion that one needs to start doing something. […]
October 6th, 2006 at 8:20 am
[…] 2. Give up TV - reported benefits are better mental clarity, (desired) weight loss, exploring new hobbies, better relationships, more energy, higher productivity, greater emotional stability, and even better sex. A few people said it was one of the best lifestyle changes they’ve ever made for themselves and their families. Good read for this are Steve Pavlina’s posts on this subject: Reducing TV Watching Giving Up TV 8 Changes I Experienced After Giving Up TV […]
November 14th, 2006 at 9:06 am
[…] In the last week or so, I’ve noticed Mr. Ramsey pushing TiVo Kidzone by giving away a couple TiVo boxes with complimentary one year subscriptions every week. It seems to me that yet another unnecessary consumer appliance devoted to a mind numbing habit - and one with a monthly fee after that first free year, should you actually win - is just about the last thing your average debt encumbered family needs, even if it helps you keep those nasty programs from the young ‘uns. How about getting out the manual and learning how to use the V-Chip required on any modern television bigger than 13″? Or, if one were actually that concerned, getting rid of the TV altogether probably isn’t the worst idea in the world. […]
March 7th, 2007 at 7:15 am
[…] So I spoke to Matt and then coincidentally, just recently, I was reading through some old posts from some blogs that I peruse rather frequently. Steve Pavlina spoke about how he gave up television a few years ago and how it had an interesting effect on the rest of his life. James Brausch has a number of fascinating posts about how tv watching has a direct correlation to overall income and how tv steals your life like a thief in the night. […]
July 23rd, 2007 at 5:12 am
[…] I came across an articleby Steve Pavlina about abstinence from watching TV and it is actually something I have personal experience with. When I was 15 I went to a boarding school for one year and it was a very educational experience. We lived in small houses with space enough for 8 boys and girls - or in my case just boys, as I was unfortunate enough to be placed in the only house that was all boys. Although the house had a TV we could use, there were so many social activities that it was hardly ever in use. I lived at the school for one year and saw practically no TV at all. It made me realize a few interesting points about watching television. […]
August 24th, 2007 at 7:12 am
[…] This is one of the fundamental reasons there has been such a dramatic rise in the drug abuse culture alongside the rise of television. Television must be the worst invention in the history of humankind when it comes to what makes people feel lonely. You see it entertains you and at the same time it programs you into complacency. And this is very, very real indeed. I highly recommend you read the articles on the Steve Pavlina’s blog about Giving Up TV. […]
October 4th, 2007 at 6:18 am
[…] I suggest you read Steve Pavlina’s article “Reducing TV Watching” as a starter. After 30 days of reduced TV watching you will notice that your quality of life gets better. It worked for me, it worked for Steve Pavlina, and for countless other people. Give it a try. […]
January 7th, 2008 at 5:10 am
[…] Steve Pavlina: Giving Up TV […]