About three or four years ago my wife and I decided to give up cable television in order to save money. I must admit that it was a MAJOR adjustment… especially the loss of DVR (a really convenient function that can be a great resource for families). No longer could we pause live television to attend to unexpected issues, auto-record shows in our absence and then skip the commercials... gone were Disney, ESPN, Nickelodeon, and Lifetime movies (a favorite of my wife’s). It was a major adjustment.
After months of discussion, my wife and I decided to venture back into the world of cable after our 3-4 year hiatus. Last Friday the Dish Network guy came and installed our new DVR Satellite Cable and showed me how to work the very complicated system and then left me with “THE remote” in hand… the remote which held the destiny of my future ESPN appointments in its complicated and illuminated buttons. Then something strange (and definitely unexpected) happened… I didn’t really care. I flipped through the guide and saw show after show after show – something for everyone I suppose – and had no desire to watch any of them, so I turned it off. The same thing happened with my wife – she had opportunities to watch, but opted to read instead. It’s been almost 4 full days and we have not watched one complete program (to include any sports programming or Lifetime Movies). In talking about it today we’ve noticed something about our cable hiatus:
- It de-programmed us and we actually liked it (it took us getting cable to realize that, though)… our TV “habits” were tamed and simplified to local network programming.
- It made television watching easier for my children (with no cable they had one channel choice: free PBS Kids shows). Once we got cable, the arguing ensued – “no! I don’t want to watch that… or that… I want to watch…”. Even more startling is their willingness to watch different shows in different rooms (to isolate themselves from the family) – something that didn’t happen with one option.
- We really didn’t miss cable. The only feature we really missed was the ability to choose when we watched TV. DVR gave us a freedom in watching TV – we could watch our shows anytime we wanted and pass the junky commercials.
That’s pretty much it. Not much in terms of news – just an interesting development in our lives. Those who know us well know we are/were TV junkies and the addition of cable to our house again would have normally been reason to celebrate. Instead it’s given us some perspective.
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3 comments:
Isn't it interesting how much priorities change when they have to? Imagine what would happen if we changed our whole lifestyles - getting rid of computer, cell phone, cable. It is amazing how much your life revolves around what you want it too. It makes me wonder how much more time we could spend with family and God if we silenced our lives
An editorial note: I (Christian) did not write previous note beginning with "Isn't it interesting"... I believe it was by my wife (we share login info and she was probably logged in as me. So the note is from her. And, for the record, I fully agree with her. :-)
"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." - Psalm 46:10
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