A GREAT DIVORCE
11/30/03
My wife and I have divorced and it is the best thing we have ever done.
We divorced our television.
We read an article last April that asked us to turn off our television for a week. The idea was that life would be more peaceful, rewarding and enjoyable. We turned the damned thing off and hoped for the best.
I am a news junky and shutting off the television was hard, but by the end of the week we liked the peace and quiet, stress melted away, and we enjoyed ourselves more. I discovered, once again, that my wife could actually carry on a conversation. We spent entire evenings listening to the waterfall in our water garden, watching birds and squirrels or playing with our pets. We had time to read more books and listen to music. Life was so enjoyable that we decided to leave the television turned off.
There are advantages to a television free existence. Life is less stressful without the nightly litany of murder, mayhem, rape and robbery. Judgment is not warped by pushy advertising, media bias and political propaganda; one can focus on what is important. And there is time for living life again.
We got through last years political campaigns without hearing a single political speech or advertisement. We found that we need or buy less “stuff” if we watch less television advertising. Our opinions of others improved greatly. We believe that people, especially children, would be better if they watched less television. There is a reason, after all, why they call it the “boob tube.”
Now, I read local papers for news of local events and activities. The Internet is my source for in-depth coverage of state, national and international affairs. The Internet makes it easy to find what is really important in the news. Besides, it is fun to check out different sources. Foreign sources provide an outlook that is often at odds with that of our commercial television media.
Of course, giving up television is not without a down side. I didn’t know what people mean when they discuss “Hammity,” “O’Rielly”, “CSI” and other programs. I don’t watch sports so I can’t carry on a conversation about a game and I generally don’t know and don’t care who’s playing, who lost or who won.
But then, I don’t watch programs full of snakes, alligators, spiders, preachers, peddlers or politicians anymore. Life, really good life, can exist without television. Try it – You’ll like it.