A Week Without Television

[EffEmDoubleyou]

I've been thinking about giving up televison for an entire week for the following reasons.

1. To force me into doing more productive activities
2. To allow the quiet to energize my thinking
3. To catch up on some reading
4. To give me a fun topic to write about
5. Just to see if I can be master of my domain

I have a question though. Would renting DVDs be cheating? I understand that to an extent, it's only cheating if I think so because it's my little experiment. But I'd like a more general opinion on whether this is my attempt to find a loophole or if it's legitimate.

 

[scantilyclad]

i think it would definitely be cheating to rent dvds, unless they were very educational of course.

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

i think it would definitely be cheating to rent dvds, unless they were very educational of course.

Aha, that's a slippery slope! We can talk ourselves into anything being educational. Even pr0n!

 

[Tallulah]

I'm afraid it would be a loophole. If you're going to go without tv, it's not really an experiment unless you're not watching dvds, either. Otherwise, you're not really accomplishing the things you set out to on your list. You're just watching other things.

 

[nemo]

I have a question though. Would renting DVDs be cheating? I understand that to an extent, it's only cheating if I think so because it's my little experiment. But I'd like a more general opinion on whether this is my attempt to find a loophole or if it's legitimate.

I guess it'd be cheating if you watch them on a television.

 

[Thursday]

Try going without the internet

 

[SillySapienne]

A week without television is a week well spent!!!

 

[heart]

I've been thinking about giving up televison for an entire week for the following reasons.

1. To force me into doing more productive activities
2. To allow the quiet to energize my thinking
3. To catch up on some reading
4. To give me a fun topic to write about
5. Just to see if I can be master of my domain

I have a question though. Would renting DVDs be cheating? I understand that to an extent, it's only cheating if I think so because it's my little experiment. But I'd like a more general opinion on whether this is my attempt to find a loophole or if it's legitimate.

I went through a long time period (about nine months) with no TV because we had canceled the cable and reception was really bad, didn't have a good antenna. The only channel that came through was the local one with the classical music videos on it, I forget what that is called.

My point is that while I had access to video tapes, I only watched them every so often, like one or two a week and I didn't feel that they made as big of an impact on me as TV does. I got very used to no TV. So I would think that a causal DVD watching would not be cheating. People don't tend to turn DVDs on and leave them on all day mindlessly like the TV programming is left on.

I wish we could have more days without TV now...but I don't have control over whether or not its on. I leave it off during the day when it is my choice. Nothing is on anyway.

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

Try going without the internet

Hah. I want a new perspective, not a suicide attempt

A week without television is a week well spent!!!

Bite your tongue! I still <3 TV. I'm not dumping TV, we're just on a break.

I've decided that DVDs are cheating, but I will still turn on the TV when I go to sleep because the white noise puts me out. I've decided that's not cheating.

 

[Geoff]

I've been thinking about giving up televison for an entire week for the following reasons.

1. To force me into doing more productive activities
2. To allow the quiet to energize my thinking
3. To catch up on some reading
4. To give me a fun topic to write about
5. Just to see if I can be master of my domain

I have a question though. Would renting DVDs be cheating? I understand that to an extent, it's only cheating if I think so because it's my little experiment. But I'd like a more general opinion on whether this is my attempt to find a loophole or if it's legitimate.

When I stay at my cottage in Canada, it has no television and no internet. A week is manageable. Any longer and I find myself wandering into the local library to catch up on MBTI and emails and things. The tv I don't miss one bit though... try it, you'll like it!

 

[scantilyclad]

yeah the internet is wayy harder to go without for a week.
this is why my parents used to always ground me from the internet.

 

[Totenkindly]

Isn't it whatever you want it to be?

I mean, you are the one choosing to do this particular "fasting" and you also have enough integrity that you know whether your external behavior is truly reflecting your inner motivation and/or need for doing this.

So determine why you are doing this; then ask, "Is watching DVDs going to support or undermine my reasons?"

Personally, I think I'd just forgo all of it. I barely watch TV anymore now, even though I have it. (I'd cancel it if it wasn't just $6 extra a month on my high-speed Internet bill, but it's probably worth $6 a month.)

 

[01011010]

I don't own a tv. I went to an early college when I was 15. There were 50 students total in my program. Main thing we all had in common was, very little television consumption. I didn't get to watch tv until I was 12, that may have contributed.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Poser]

Weird timing. I decided to try to go the whole month of June without TV. For the most part, it worked. My intent was to try to get out of the cycle of just plopping on the couch after work and watching whatever was on for the next 4 hours. I thought I had chosen a good month because most of the shows were into reruns but I quickly found that I had to create some loopholes. I allowed sports (US open, UFC) and Friday night scifi (Battlestar, Dr. Who). Good luck with your fast!

 

[disregard]

I haven't lived with a telly for almost a year now. It isn't missed.

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

Weird timing. I decided to try to go the whole month of June without TV. For the most part, it worked. My intent was to try to get out of the cycle of just plopping on the couch after work and watching whatever was on for the next 4 hours. I thought I had chosen a good month because most of the shows were into reruns but I quickly found that I had to create some loopholes. I allowed sports (US open, UFC) and Friday night scifi (Battlestar, Dr. Who). Good luck with your fast!

Yeah, the summer seems to be the best time to give this a shot. Scripted TV is in reruns, I don't watch many reality shows, and my favorite sports (football and hockey) are not in season. The biggest threat to ruin this is probably ESPN News. I've been known to leave it on for a few hours as background while doing something else, and I think it slows me down. I'm impressed that you made it a whole month with your modified fast! I know for a fact I could never go a month, and I probably shouldn't anyway because I work in entertainment. A stockbroker shouldn't give up the Wall Street Journal for an extended period, either

I started Sunday, so we'll see how long this goes...

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

I'm really not certain why I'm doing this. It's partly because I want to be more productive in other areas. I want to get more writing done. I want to finish my Photoshop and Illustrator lessons. I want to do research for my script. I want to think more. But truthfully, the primary reason is that I have some kind of ineffable desire for cleansing. Something akin to Jesus' 40 days in the desert. Solitary time to get your shit straight.

I started on Sunday, which means I'm just finishing up my second day as I write this. The only TV I'm allowing myself is white noise to fall asleep by. I'm going to try to fall asleep without it, but if I can't then I'll turn it on. I don't think that breaks the spirit of the law. I briefly considered not counting DVDs, but quickly realized that it was just a safety valve. If I'm going to do it, I'm going to DO it.

It's been hard. REALLY hard. I'm so used to instinctively turning on the TV in the morning and having it on whenever I'm home, even if I'm not paying attention to it. I'm a multitasker, always doing at least two things at once. And most of the time TV is one of those things. Mealtimes are awkward. I don't know what to do with myself when it's time to eat dinner and the TV is off. It's like sitting across from an empty place setting where your dinner companion should be. It's also very quiet. I'm listening to a lot of music, and when I'm on the computer I'm listening to podcasts. But it's still quieter. I can hear noises in the building that I don't remember hearing before. I feel like this has already been a valuable experience even though I hate every minute of it. Maybe because I hate every minute of it.

I'm going to post every day this week so there's a record of my thoughts about this little experiment. I could never give up TV forever, nor would I want to. But this seems like the right thing to do for now.

 

[heart]

Good luck to you out there in the desert. You can do this!

 

[Zergling]

Like many other people, I've gone about a year with almost no T.V. (Occasionally I get some for a week or so on vacations, but most of the time I'm not watching any.). Other people have described pretty well how it works.

Once you get used to not having the T.V. on all the time, the lack of noise and constant movement will likely be nice.

 

[MacGuffin]

I've gone over a week without TV by accident.

And I love television.