I gave up TV just a smidge over a year ago. It’s been an interesting journey, and one that I get asked about a lot. Lemme see if I can explain.
I was a big Dish and TiVo junkie. In fact, I’m still a big fan of TiVo. If you’re going to watch television, by all means, get one; they rock.
But, the more I used TiVo, an interesting shift began to occur. It used to be that television was part of my routine. I’d have some favorite show, and parts of my week got scheduled around that show. “Thursdays at 8:00, gotta be home for Seinfeld”, that sort of thing. And then I got a Dish-TiVo combo unit. Mmm, tons of channels, and this handy box that is skimming the cream and storing it for whenever I wanted. What lovely excess! Now I didn’t have to wait until Thursday at 8:00, I could get my fix whenever I wanted. Schweet!
Except… now, there was no routine, no habit to watch television at a specific time. I could watch or not, and then shows would still be there on the TiVo’s hard drive. Oh, so I don’t _have_ to watch TV right now, I could put it off and watch it later. As the regularly scheduled habit began to fade, I increasingly chose to do other things, like read a book, or geek on the computer. In fact, I almost began to look at the TiVo as a To Do list. “Aww, jeez, I’ve got thirty episodes of Larry Sanders queued up. Someday I gotta sit down and watch those.”
And then, the Dish-TiVo combo box broke. I had to send the unit off to Sony to be repaired, which took an unreasonable six weeks. Six weeks during which I had no television feed at all. I was shocked to find I didn’t miss it that much. I read more, I went out more, and I began to find I enjoyed all the extra free time I had as a result.
Once the Dish-TiVo box was returned, I decided to leave it in the closet for a while and continue the TV-free experiment for a bit longer. And longer. And longer.
And so it’s been over a year. It’s getting to be a little odd and awkward at times. A friend mentions some hot new actor and I haven’t seen the series she’s starring in. People laugh about some commercial that’s making the rounds and I have no idea what they’re talking about. Wow, the lack of commercials is huge. As time passes, I’m increasingly divorced from the cultural mainstream, which is an odd experience. But some people might say I’ve only ever had a passing acquaintance with it anyway.
For what it’s worth, I’m not a zealous evangelist about giving up TV. I still have a DVD player, and I maintain a very active account with Netflix. The only challenge now is figuring out which movies I might want to watch, when I’m not being bombarded with ads for them. 🙂
we haven’t gotten tv for about 4 years now. i turned on the tv for sept 11, but that’s about it. we rent from netflix, though. and we play music. but otherwise the house is quiet.
i just watched a john wayne film and heath is reading.
we’ve had friends with tivo that say that tivo makes them watch MORE tv. and a friend sometimes records mst3k on his tivo for me. that’s cool.
You could always spend some time on the QuickTime trailers site, during your extra geek time, and find out about new movies that way.
Are you interested in selling your old Tivo unit? Does it work separately from the dish service?
QuickTime movie trailers
In fact, that’s exactly what I do. 🙂
1) Yes, I’d love to sell the TiVo unit, 2) But I don’t think it can be used separately from the Dish service, and 3) I tried to sell it to someone last year and they had the same problems with it that I did, so I’m guessing Sony’s six-week repair was all for naught.
At this point, I’m planning on scavenging the thing for the 30GB hard drive (assuming that’s not the source of the problem) and passing the rest to one of my geekier friends (edjuardo de la muerte) for hacking.
I hardly ever watch tv, and its been that way for a couple of years now. And my b/f has no tv service at all. Although we watch movies and even a couple of tv series on DVD, I find the lack of comercials and the general disconnection from pop culture to be very refreshing. I just love the fact that i haven’t seen even a tiny fraction of an episode of a reality tv show since the 3rd season of the Real World was brand new. I am just thrilled when someone starts talking about a supid tv commercial and i have no idea what they are talking about. My b/f takes it a step further – he doesn’t have a radio. He listens to Launchcast and his CDs. So no radio commercials either. He is an inspiration. If only I had a faster internet conneciton, i would get Launchcast myself. But i must admid i wouldn’t be happy without a regular fix of NPR.
Deprogramming
Yeah, I am occasionally amused by the cultural events I _haven’t_ experienced. I haven’t seen any of the “reality” shows, nor Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, I haven’t seen any commericals with women fighting in a fountain…
I listen to NPR in the car, but mostly I’m listening to my mp3s at home or in the car on my iPod.