Why did I stop?
There are a number of reasons and a number of circumstances.
Reasons first:
1. The content seemed to me to be too thin. I tried to look critically at programmes and make a note of what I actually learned as a result of the programme. They seemed to take a long time to say only a little. This was wasting my life.
2. The programme sometimes seemed to be presented to justify its own existence. I had no real interest in the topic being presented and just watched it because it was on. Sometimes the programme was just entertainment and no substance. (I will say more about 'entertainment' in a moment).
3. I can think of more important things to do with my time - I have several hobbies which take time to practice and perform. There are classics of literature which I had never read and was not likely to have the time to read if I give in to the lure of easy entertainment.
4. The information in the programme was very distant. Some 'American comedian', some '
5. I tried to think in what way I was a better person as a result of having watched the programme. Over a few months I could not find a programme which made me think I had been glad to watch it.
Now I should say that I am certainly not against entertainment, but there are a number of considerations here:
Is this entertainment I had actively sought?
Was it just appealing to some basic human instinct for titillation or lazy emotion - and did I not want to be better than that?
Was it the best form of entertainment I could think of having?
And so on.
Here were some of the circumstances I ran into:
Whenever I told people that I didn't watch TV they would often become defensive (interestingly) and say things like "Oh I only watch the news and the good programmes, like the wildlife programmes".
Comment: Many of these subsequently became available on DVD (at less than the license fee, could be seen whenever I wanted and were better quality than the broadcast version).
What else? "I like to watch sport and I can only do that on the TV".
Comment: Perhaps you can only watch your particular team or sports person on the TV as travelling to see them might be cost prohibitive - OK I can accept that is a decision only you can make. I am not a sports fan so that wasn't a consideration for me. But I did wonder how fit and healthy I was getting just watching someone else doing their 'day job' and the thing they really enjoyed and got paid for. Of course, I could partake of this licenced voyeurism, but it was not my choice. I have my own interests and my own dreams to live. I want to live my life, rather than watching someone else living theirs.
People would also openly admit that they needed their 'fix' of a particular soap-opera. OK, again, that is their choice. But please consider carefully that this is then an addiction. Consider what you are giving up.
A some questions to think about:
Why can't you get the essential bits of the news from the radio or the internet?
How have you used any of the information you have gained from that programme subesquently?
In what way are you a better person for watching that programme?
What did people do for entertainment before television?
Here is a real story:
I became television-free just a couple of weeks before my wife. One of the programmes she wanted to watch was about Prof. Colin Pillinger, the lead scientist organising the Beagle 2 mission to Mars. My wife and I were both members of the Bristol Astronomical Society and the mission was obviously of interest. She was disappointed in the programme because instead of talking about the mission and looking at the growth of the programme in informative detail it was presented more like a docu-soap. For example, Prof. Pillinger was shown full of expectation going into a meeting to try to get some funding - then a fade out. Fade back in again and he was shown either happy or disappointed with the outcome. There was little actual meat in the programme.
A few weeks later (as it happens) members of Bristol Astronomical Society were invited to Hewlett-Packard's complex just up the road to see a lecture by Prof Pillinger to hear just those kind of details which had been lacking from the programme. Following the lecture there we were sharing a glass of wine and canapes with him and asking belly-to-belly all the questions we still had.
The point of this? It was getting out and doing it which was the most satifying - the real deal.
Just switch off and see what happens.
It's your life and it's ticking by. . .
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