I don't have cable and the antenna for my TV isn't working.
Such is the life of a frugal, challenge-the-status-quo hipster like me. And since my antenna isn't working, I've been doing more reading and have been pretty out-of-touch with any current event. I know there's flooding in my state. I know tensions and violence are still rising in the Middle East. I know Glee is still a hit show. Other than that, I'm useless when it comes to casual conversations about current news and pop culture. So when I turned on the TV today and actually got a few channels, I was surprised at my enlightened realization—that I really wasn't missing anything life-shattering and that my time had been better spent between the pages of my books.
What I also realized is how lazy we let ourselves become. With ever-increasing cable channels comes an ever-increasing temptation to surf the days away. It's so easy for me to think, "I just want to watch TV tonight." What if we weren't so connected to every little slice of news that was happening around the world? I'm not trying to bash TV or the news...I enjoy these things. But I simply realized how easy it has become to turn on the TV and check our brains at the door, rather than open a book and really engage our minds. (And yes, I do believe there are many shows that "engage" our minds, but I also think twenty minutes of channeling surfing to find that "show" does not.)
So the thought I'm really wrestling with here is this: What if we didn't have a TV...within a week we'd grab onto any book or magazine we could find...and that would become our new "TV." How might our lives be enriched by that? Just something to think about.
What about other technologies? What if a son and father actually talked while waiting to be seated, rather than the son, or the dad for that matter, playing with the latest app on their phone? What if we "unplugged" more often? Even while typing this blog, I know a better conversation or a better magazine article awaits in the other room. I'm not trying to ba-humbug TV, or smartphone apps, or Facebook, or Twitter, or NetFlix, or video games. I enjoy TV a lot. But again, it's kind of a revelation when you've been away from the tube for a while, only to come back and find how unfulfilling it can be.
So what are your thoughts in this ongoing dilemma? To stay plugged in, or to unplug? To set aside specific times for TV and Internet, or to live without those boundaries? To be ever connected, or to disconnect for a time?
Just so nobody thinks I'm a total TV snob, I'll admit that I'm a Gleek. I also really dig Modern Family.
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