We’re quiting tv land…forever?!?

As part of my post indoctrination life, i.e. time outside of the schooling system and public/American way of thinking in general, I’ve learned about things like government being jacked up like here, internet being a “poor” source for legit information like here, or less is more here.  

One thing I’ve come across as something I’ve toyed with in my head with embracing is getting rid of our tv.  

I wanted to do it only if there were positive reasons and not negative ones.  I didn’t want to do it to show that we were/are whackos, to prove a point, or to make any feel bad or awkward.

There are many reasons I love tv.  I love that it is a very convenient release from thinking about life and owning up to what I really want to do, but not doing it.  I love pro sports and especially playoffs of the NBA and NFL.  If fills my free time when I can’t think of anything better to do with it.  However there have been some things though that I’ve thought about and come across over the last year or so that have made me think that tv maybe isn’t the best idea for me.

I don’t know if any of you know anyone like this, but my dad sleeps six hours every night and has for years and years and years.  Man how nice would that be?  Who would I be were I able to do that?  One way I could do that, at least partially, is by cutting out tv.  I gotta think my dad is many leaps and bounds wealthier in many aspects of his life due to this extra free time whether it is financial knowledge or means, car knowledge (he’s good at fixing cars), spiritual knowledge, business knowledge, design knowledge (he knows photoshop really well), and a whole host of other things I could mention were I to spend more than 5 seconds thinking about it.

Another guy I think about is a guy I don’t even know.  I think I shook his hand once or maybe even just head nodded towards him at church after my brother introduced me to him.  His name is Ralph Little.  Guy hasn’t watched a movie in years.  Not that he doesn’t own a tv cause the truth is he might, but certainly his not having seen a movie in years has certainly aided him in using his free time to engage in one of his many business endeavors instead of consistently engaging in beta wave trancelike hypnosis each week by watching tv all the time.  My brother is constantly telling me how Ralph thought of another multi-million dollar idea that is so simple and stupid its crazy.  That story alone was a big reason why I stopped watching some of the movies that I did.

There have been three main things lately that have turned me onto the idea of giving up the tv forever though.  First up is this guy.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/05/06/mmm-challenge-cut-your-cash-leaking-umbilical-cord/

He and his family don’t own a tv.  They do however love Netflix and Hulu and the whole host of ways you can watch tv/movies for a fraction of the price/time these days.  They just hook up the laptop to a projector when the need arises.  Often he talks about one great effect of not owning a tv and that is he and his family actually DO things and have hobbies.  I mean think about it.  What would you do if you just had 28 hours a week extra to do what you wanted to with?  You’d be forced to find new hobbies or blow your brains out with boredom from staring at the wall.

Next up is the documentary I watched a few weeks ago called “No Impact Man”.

link to free viewing if you're interested

http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/no_impact_man/

  It chronicles the journey of a man and his family going a year w/o making an impact on the environment and it was pretty entertaining.  Part of the experiment is getting rid of their tv, which for them was scary as the wife fully admits that she is addicted to reality tv.  They said at the end of the movie that at first there was a literal painful withdrawal from not having tv (I’m not looking forward to that), but that once they pushed through that they…went outside.  They made other new hobbies and had new experiences they otherwise wouldn’t have had.  That is what I want.

Last up is a post I read just today from....

  I’m loving the whole blog actually.  Here it is

http://advancedriskology.com/how-to-add-8-years-and-133369-to-your-life/

This post was crazy to me in that if you're paying for tv your blowing so much money.  Then comes the time wasted, which is even more shocking.  The craziest part is that all his number are conservative, i.e. he uses smaller numbers just to make his point.  The average reality is much worse in America.

Read it and…weep like a sad woosy girly man if you dare. 

So we're gonna cut tv, but I'm still gonna watch sports and tv in general should I be over at somebody's house and I won't be a snob or anything.  I even imagine that'll be a bit of fun to splurge in those occasions and enjoy the time wasted if that makes sense.  Maybe I try and do some updates on new things we get into once we're done with tv so you can see what is going on with us.