A Richer Life Without Cable Television
I went back to NY to visit my family this past Christmas. I haven’t had cable TV for the past seven years, so I was looking forward to catching up with all the latest cable entertainment offerings during my stay. I certainly did watch a lot of TV, but to this day I still don’t know what’s new and worthwhile on cable, or why people even have it.
In clockwork fashion, I found myself waking up minutes before 9:00 a.m. to catch Golden Girls on Lifetime. I already know every line of the show because I spent my childhood and adolescence watching it. Then I’d move on to Food Network. I don’t remember what I was watching, but I was captivated. I vaguely remember sitting through a few Rachael Ray episodes, and I don’t even like her.
I explored a massive list of channels on my brother’s premium cable, and the abundance of crap astonished me. Maybe it’s because I turned 30 recently, and as my friend put it, ‘œthere’s the illusion from MTV that any decade beyond the twenties is one of beige existence.’ It’s possible that there’s nothing enticing for my new demographic, but I doubt that.
I’ve broken my TV habit only by getting rid of cable. It wasn’t always the content that kept me watching, it was just easy access to something that turns my brain off.
I used to be one of the average Americans who watch approximately 4.5 hours of TV per day, but eventually I realized there wasn’t room for so much TV in my life.
Assume you get 8 hours of sleep per day — wishful thinking for most of us, but play along anyway. That means you only get 112 waking hours per week. 4.5 hours of TV per day is 31.5 hours of TV per week (nearly a workweek). That’s 28% of the waking hours in your week.
Just for comparison, a 40-hour workweek takes up 36% of your waking hours in a week. If your commute takes up an hour each day, your workweek is more like 45 hours. Work takes up 40% of your waking hours during the week.
Work + TV = 68% of your waking hours / week.
If you’re clocking in 4.5 hours of TV each day on top of work and commuting, that leaves you only 2.5 hours each weekday to take care of other stuff before bed. If your weekends always feel like work, it’s probably because you’re catching up with everything you didn’t have time to do on the weekday.
I’m not saying that everything on cable is horrible, and that it’s not worth anyone’s time. There are a few TV shows I follow by renting the DVD through Netflix. Yes, I’m always a season behind, but at least I’m very deliberate about what I’m going to watch, and I spend less than 8 hours per week in front of the television this way.
Getting rid of cable has given me more control of how I spend my time. I’m not as tempted to zone out for hours on end, and I have more time for my partner, my social life, getting to the gym, and reading books. Others may have more discipline with their cable connections, but I don’t. I’m happier without it, especially because the cheapest cable package available to me is $57 / month, excluding installation and taxes. I’d be paying $684 / year for something that brings me feelings of guilt instead of leisure.
How about you dear readers? Is cable TV worth the cost to your wallet and schedule? Or do you think you can have a richer life without it? Please share your thoughts.
I cannot begin to imagine life without my DirecTV and Tivo. It’s well worth the money to be able to escape.
I have from time to time thought about ditching cable. I get disgusted with all the channels for selling stuff. Does it make sense to pay to have someone sell you something? I’m not happy with much of the programming. But I do enjoy national geographic, discovery, some of the medical information shows and the news. So I haven’t taken the leap to oust it from my life as of yet.
We budget in the digital cable as entertainment. We go to the movies maybe once a year (this year, hubby and the two oldest saw Harry Potter- I stayed home with the little ones); we do not eat out (hubby is s/p gastric bypass- its no fun for just me to eat; and yeah- like we’d take 4 kids ranging from 8 months to 8 to a decent restaurant anyways!). We don’t travel (the youngest baby is still in foster care– too much red tape to go for more than daytrips or really short stays not too far from home). I think as a family, we have cable as our one indulgence.
I actually got rid of my television three years ago. One thing i remember is not only watching it for a large percentage of my time but that a large percentage of my time watching was spent flipping channels.
We ditched cable when we started trying to get pregnant (four years ago).
And now we really don’t watch _any_ t.v.; we find Netflix works better for us.
We read, do crossword puzzles, and listen to the radio more (I know, we sound like old people, but this is the stuff we enjoy!) I take walks and baths to veg, rather than sitting in front of the tube. We’re planning on doing a ‘movie night’ once a week once our daughter is older, rather than having t.v. (though the Internet will probably be more the issue for her generation!).
Yes, I do think our life is richer without cable. I don’t miss it a bit.
I know exactly what you mean, John. For years I didn’t have cable and didn’t miss it. Then, I met my husband who loves his cable. I cannot help but fall into that trap. I can veg-out for hours. I am partial to the Food Network, myself. I don’t feel horribly guilty about it and do enjoy it but at the same time, I KNOW there are better things I could be doing with my time. Whenever I start planning my life around a show or get annoyed when my husband “interrupts†me while I’m watching something, I have to pull back and remind myself: TV is NOT real life and real life is way more important than any show. It’s scary that it’s something I consciously have to tell myself, though.
I lived for one year without cable and to be honest I really enjoyed time. My girlfriend quite enjoys cable and when it is around, I do too. I find that a DVR like Tivo actually cuts down on the amount of tv we watch because we can more deliberate rather than flip channels. With the price hovering near $120 for internet and cable, I’m going to propose we ditch the cable one again… that is of course after the L Word is over.
John,
I grew up my entire life with no cable. When Joe and I moved into our current place, we were horrified to find that the reception was so bad in the area that we couldn’t even get one basic channel!! Nightmare city! We were forced to subscribe to cable to be able to watch tv at all. I’m almost embarrassed to admit I enjoy television more than virtually anything else on earth. Yes, I read, dine out, stroll, volunteer, socialize, but nothing comes remotely close to the pleasure I feel while watching Gossip Girl(and Cashmere Mafia). My hateful brain enjoys taking frequent vacations from its myriad spiteful thoughts. I truly think watching tv centers me.
Desperate Housewives and The Office are both available online for free– what more does a boy need?