My wife and I have decided that we really don't need cable TV anymore. It is not about cost, but it is over $100 month, but after having 200 channels, HBO and a DVR we have figured out that we are getting older watching TV. Television is relatively cheap compared to other avenues for entertainment, and it is easy to sit in front of the tube and spend an entire evening being entertained. But it is also a one way form of entertainment. The interaction is with a flat panel, 40 inches diagonal, sometimes including pumping sound through the stereo for a movie or fav show. Because we have a DVR, we do not suffer through commercials, which makes our time more efficient, and also allows us the freedom to watch shows when we want to. But ultimately we are missing something with each other. When we watch TV, As I imagine is true for most American couples, we are looking forward, and not at each other. Our interactions revolve around taking breaks, getting food or taking a phone call. Generally, we eat in front of the TV as well. For us, like most Americans, the American dream has been reduced to endless hours on a comfortable couch, a stereo system (used mostly to watch movies), with a big screen TV, a subscription to a movie channel or two and a DVR.
Maybe we could add good lighting for watching a show as well. On top of that, we both have laptops, so if the show we are watching is just all right, or is really my wife's favorite, then I can tune out, browse the Internet, and still be there for the snack request. When we added up the weekly shows that we watch intentionally, we are somewhere between 7 - 14 hours a week. For some Americans, that is three nights of television. But I did qualify our viewing habits with the word "intentionally." Unintentionally, we probably watch at least twice as much television as we think we do: too tired to go to sleep, getting sucked into bad movies, finding something new, watching old recordings on the DVR.
What all of this has done for both of us, since 2004, for over eight years, is taken us away from various endevours, or other forms of entertainment, including spending time with friends. After our trip to Turkey for three weeks, we realized that there is an entire world out there, let alone right in our apartment. I own countless books I have not read, Janine has stacks of fabric not sewn, and if we didn't each own a bike, I wouldn't wonder when was the last time that we took a bike ride.
Now, to be clear, we are not splitting up from the media entirely. In fact, there are still some TV shows that we will still subscribe to. With our Apple TV, we can rent or subscribe to several current television shows that we watch, ultimately at a fraction of the cost of cable. A typical series costs between $25 - 36 for an entire season, and since we watch about six series a year, we are going to save a considerable amount of money. Likewise, we can rent movies that we want to see, maybe one to two a month at about $4 each. On top of that, with Netflix, if we ever had the need to just become a vegetable, for $9 month, we can stream endless amounts of older and more standard movies that neither of us have ever seen. All said and done, I envision that our viewing time will go down to around 6 hours a week, being more selective with our purposeful viewing. I know this is not unheard of - leaving cable for the various on-demand systems that now exist. I am sure this would not work for the majority of Americans who feel compelled to sit in front of the TV every night, or for a family who has many different viewers with different interests. Among our friends who own televisions, we are not the first to leave the programmed universe behind for more selective viewing options.
What will we do with the extra $70 a month, and the extra time on our hands? The rest of our lifetime awaits...
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