Tune Out & Drop In

Like any junkie, I had my drug of choice. Oh, they were all a good time, but if you really wanted to hypnotize me for hours on end, it was HGTV that could be counted on to turn me into a square-eyed zombie.

And like many addicts, the seeds of my problem were sown early on. I'm part of a whole generation of kids for whom the TV really did function as a kind of babysitter. In a society where two (over)working parents are the norm, where family units are often isolated even from others in their own neighborhood, and where the world outside the front door is seen as vaguely dangerous, it is oh so easy to plunk the kids down in front of the TV. Just for a while.

But what of the long term effects?

Kill the Babysitter!

Some of you may remember the Cable Guy - not Larry the Cable Guy, of Blue Collar Comedy fame - the 1996 movie starring Jim Carrey. I searched high and low on the web for a video clip of the climax of that film (alas, no luck), where Carrey's character tries to destroy a broadcast satellite because of the toll tv had taken on his life.

A couple of years ago I, too, was feeling fed up with TV. I decided that it had a lot to answer for:

• leads to rampant time suckage
• distorts our sense of reality
• causes us to miss out on real life
• dulls critical thinking
• presents warped values as the norm
  
• promotes consumer culture
• encourages disengagement with real issues
• In sum, it keeps us politically passive & economically active

It was time to "kill the babysitter!"

Rehab

So, I stopped watching TV. Not all at once, mind you. The shock would have been too great. But gradually, until I was down to three shows (Lost, the Amazing Race, Independent Lens), then two, then none.

It was very quiet.

Soon I started filling up my time with other things. I read more. I went hiking. I started gardening and learning to cook. I went to concerts and ball games and hung out more with my friends. I listened to NPR and ended up more informed about current events than I ever had been with access to 24 hour cable news networks.

My life got a lot more interesting.

TV Turnoff Week: April 23 -29

These days, I watch TV selectively. I don't think that TV is inherently evil, I just try to sort the wheat from the piles & piles of chaff. If I want to watch a series, I rent it on DVD (no commercials!). Once in a while - if I'm not busy with my real life - I'll watch a favorite show, like "Good Eats" on the Food Network. I'm making conscious choices about how to spend my time and what to expose my mind to.

National TV Turnoff Week is one month away. If you can't imagine how you'd fill your time without the tube, consider detoxing for just one week, and discover what 'reality' means when it's not being used ironically.