We decided that we would have a month without the television. I watch little TV and would quite happily be without it but my husband and sons do not share this view.
By the end of the summer holidays I was fed up with the television being switched on for large parts of the day so I suggested we had a TV free month to compensate for the amount watched during the past few weeks. To my surprise everyone agreed so last Monday, 1st September, the television (we only have one) was removed from the living room.
We are now one week into our month and so far it has gone very well. We had decided that we could watch a few programmes on-line if we wanted and we have watched a couple but probably less than two hours in total for all four of us. Two hours television in a week is a lot less than our usual viewing.
What have we been doing instead? We've played cards and scrabble, the boys have read for hours and we've probably sat chatting more than usual. So the first week has gone very well but we'll see what happens next week when the novelty has worn off.
I may be posting less during this month. I do most of my blog reading and posting when the rest of the family are watching television and now they are not doing that I am spending more time in the living room with them and less time up here in the spare room on the computer.
It will be interesting to see how the next three weeks go and how we feel about the television at the end of the month.
9 comments:
That's a great challenge indeed. I'm with you on hating the TV being on all the time. There is NO WAY my dh would be okay with a TV free month. If he's home it's on - even if it's just for background noise - drives me crazy. Lucky for me he works a lot - don't think I could cope otherwise. I watch maybe an hour or two a day and can't stand watching something just for the sake of it. It's got to be something I enjoy/want to watch. I'll miss your post but think you are doing a great thing
Libby
libby,
Thanks for the encouragement, as I say its going ok so far but then we are only a quarter of the way through and yes, its the constant noise in the background that gets to me too.
Good for you. I haven't had television my entire adult life (and I'm 31). I sometimes watch dvd's on my laptop, but maybe once a month or so.
It's very healthy to do without. I wish you the best.
Just a quick note. I always wonder how people have time to watch TV. I mean, I still don't get to all of the things I want to. I haven't even been reading lately. If I watched 1-2 hours of television a day, I'd never have time to do anything.
Sounds like a great idea - though I'll miss you if you post less!
I'm glad you are doing this. It sounds like you guys are spending more time together as a family, so no worries about blogging as much! Hopefully the fam will continue to be okay with it. I quite enjoy not having a TV around most the time, but I have to admit when I am on "vacation" somewhere else, I do enjoy that too.
hoorah, that's cool! if it is of help i live a tv free life with no difficulties, we just dust it down and roll it out of the cupboard every few months to watch a dvd. but i find i have very little tollerance of tv, and would have very little time to fit it in! have fun, i'm sure you will!
Such a great idea! That's wonderful that your whole family was up to trying it!
There have only been a few years in my entire life that my family had a tv, never in my married life. Once in awhile I miss it for the chance to see some sort of news, etc, but usually all can be found online, or I can get a video of something later on. I'm just so thankful for all the time it gives me to read, sew/knit/create, etc. i know it is a great benefit to the kids -- although they are allowed 1 1/2 hours on Friday to "play" on the computer so that is kind of their "tv" time. :)
Thanks for all the comments. Its interesting to learn that there are a lot of tv free people about, I don't know a single person around here without one.
Its still going ok but computer use is going up. My husband who used to spend quite a bit of his evening in front of the television now spends it in front of the computer which means I get little time for blogging. I'm sure we will work out a balance before the month is up.
At the moment it looks as if the TV will be returning at the end of September since at the moment there are three people for, and only me against!
How wonderful! We did the same thing...which stretched to 3 months...and is now 9 years ago! We have been telly-free, apart from watching the occasional DVD and it has been a wonderful, liberting thing! We had a lot of hassle at first from the TV License people, but eventually they realised we were serious!
Enjoy the banter, card games, crafts and pleasure of eachother's company!
love, Tina :)
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