State of the State: No More T.V.

Mom's View:

Okay, it’s not like the television is really off. We still watch movies.

There isn’t the stress of having to watch shows at particular times though, which I guess there wouldn’t be anyway if we just had DVR, so I could watch shows when I wanted as opposed to when they were actually on. On the other hand, it’s not like I really lived my life around the television schedule. It was just a compelling need to have it on all the time, and when there were shows on that I liked, I felt the need to watch them. I was at the point, before we turned it off, of watching one thing and then watching another during the commercial. It was quite a chore to keep up.

The difference now is that we actually have to make an effort to turn the thing on and put in a movie – we actually have to make a choice to watch something in particular. When there’s something on 90 channels, it’s amazing how sucked in you are. I’ve seen _______________ watch a 30 minute infomercial on a cheese grater or something equally compelling. Just because it’s on. But now, unless we put it on, there’s nothing there. So the effect is that we really don’t spend nearly as much time zoning out in front of nonsense. And by we, I mean ____________.

Another difference I see is that we’re a lot more organized. __________ is less forgetful about the things he needs to get done but in this case, we really means me. For instance, I finally put away the piles of clean laundry that had inhabited our living room sofa for months. I mean many, many months. We’d gotten into the habit of stopping by the living room every morning before we’d get dressed to pick out an outfit and I find I get confused when I actually have to go to my closet now. I’m not sure what about the lack of television has caused this turnaround, because I still find a lot of ways to occupy myself. Really, though, it’s almost as though my thoughts are just better sorted now, although I’m not sure why that is.

Tonight, I watched the last half of a movie I’d had on last night and then I read for a bit. I wrote an old friend with whom I’ve recently reconnected a long email. I am writing this, and then I have some other projects I want to do. It doesn't sound like it's much different, I guess, but it is. Before, I would have done only one thing this evening. And I would have fit cleaning the kitchen into the commercial break.

___________________ came home and wrote his blog entry and then practiced some basketball skills. We had dinner, and he watched a movie. Then he practiced his saxophone (he actually started while the movie was still on) and we talked for a while, and now he’s reading.

He’s read almost 4 complete books during the month of October. This was almost entirely in the past two weeks or so, since we’ve turned off the television. That’s a record number for him in a month, much less a couple of weeks.

Also, I don’t know if it’s attributable to the television situation, but he’s gotten much, much better at math. He started out the year a little sloppily – understanding the concepts but making small mistakes that affected the outcome. Over the past couple of weeks or so, he’s started focusing more on the homework and his tests and his scores are dramatically improved. He used to speed things along so he could watch the Simpsons, so maybe it’s the fact that he no longer has to rush.

I miss the television. I am comforted by my old friends at Seattle Grace (yes I know how pathetic that sounds) and I miss it. I miss the familiarity of it. But I am glad it’s off. I feel like I’m expanding myself in an intangible way.

I don’t know what ______________ has said in his blog entry. He may not see what I’m seeing and think the whole thing is still very stupid. I’m sure the fact that the Yankees are going to the series is an issue for him since he won’t be able to see it. (Although I’ll take him to a sports bar. I’m not an ogre or anything. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they have these incredible drinks at bars called dirty martinis.) I know he misses the Simpsons although I’m not sure what else. But I see a huge benefit to this whole thing. So I miss it, but I want to miss it.

Son's View:

So far not having T.V has been ok. I wish that I could say that. I’m probably going to go insane within the next week. The Yankees won the championship and I don’t know what happened. I think we should turn the T.V. back on because, trust me, I’m out of the habit of watching T.V. all the time. I pledge that I will only watch T.V. for a little while each day. I think I could do this mostly because I have a lot of homework to do each day. Mom, I’m sending out an S.O.S for T.V.