No More TV
September 18th, 2006
Just before I was about to start high school my dad gave me some rather upsetting news. He told me “no more TV”. It didn’t hit me at first exactly what he meant. I remember thinking, what does no more mean? Does it simply mean not as much if I have homework? So I asked him and that’s when he laid it all on me. In no uncertain terms he explained “from the day you start high school you will no longer be able to watch any television at any time ever, but the good news is when you finish high school you can watch as much TV as you want if you can financially support yourself”. I didn’t particularly like the good news part any more than the rest of it. He never has been one to mince his words. Of course I tried to contest this plan of his by going to my mother but this was to no avail. Once his mind was made up there was nothing I could do, accept move out of home but at 12 I felt I had limited options.
The first day of high school rolled round which was hard enough, getting adjusted to a new school but no TV after dinner was torture. What else was I going to do? If I had homework I would do that immediately after school and then go play with my friends but at night I always watched TV. I mean, that’s what everyone does, don’t they?
My mum never really watched TV much, she would watch the occasional program but she usually read books in her spare time. My dad would sit in front of the television but was always reading something at the same time and my brother was only 4 so he would go to bed early. Everyone else I knew was watching TV and my friends would always be talking about what was on the box the next day at school. Besides, I loved watching TV, I thought it was educational, unfortunately my dad didn’t see things my way. He told me he wanted me to concentrate on my studies and didn’t want me wasting my time watching TV. I just thought his approach of letting me watch TV basically whenever I wanted to none at all was a bit severe.
At first it was very hard to cope with for two main reasons. Firstly, I didn’t have that much studying to do in my first year of high school so not being able to watch TV made me feel bored a lot of the time. I was involved in a number of different sports but that was during the day, at night I got really bored because watching TV was all I ever did before I went to bed. Secondly, I felt like a social misfit not being up to date on all the TV shows that were on air in the 1980’s. In the beginning I didn’t even tell my friends my dad wouldn’t let me watch TV and I pretended to know what was going on in all the popular shows. It was just not cool to have a dad that was so strict he wouldn’t let you watch TV. He was quite strict in some ways but in other ways he let me do my own thing, but in regards to television he was adamant about me not watching any, well not at home anyway.
I still watched TV when I was at my friends or my grandparents for a while after I was first banned from watching it at home and my dad never questioned me about this. I guess he was aware that this would happen when he decided to ban me from watching TV at home entirely. But, after a while, as I started to find things to do in that time when I used to watch TV, I noticed an improvement in the way I generally felt and I know this was not my dad’s intention. He simply wanted me to concentrate on my school work and in that respect he was right, it was working for me and him as I started to do everything I needed to do to get good grades instead of just doing what I had to, to get by.
As time passed I began to miss watching TV less and less and eventually even when I was somewhere and the TV was on, I would leave as I felt like what a waste of my time it would be to sit around and watch TV. At that time in my life I didn’t know a single person other than myself who never watched TV. Although he didn’t watch it often, even my dad watched TV sometimes and he was the one who made me stop but I was alone in my world as the only one who never watched it. The very idea that I didn’t need television in my life made me feel good about myself and gave me a sense of freedom. I was able to do more things and get more done while others were bound by the incredible pulling power of the TV.
I started to develop a healthy interest in reading that has stayed with me to this day. This in turn helped me in school and beyond. I began playing many sports, some I had only been partially interested in previously, at a competitive level. The more I did this the better I became at certain sports and this filled me with a greater sense of confidence. At 13 I started washing cars for my neighbors and eventually this lead me to washing cars throughout my entire suburb and surrounding suburbs. I was only doing this on the weekends but I would regularly make over $100 on a weekend. I did this for a few years and saved thousands of dollars till eventually I was playing so much competitive tennis I rarely had the time.
Not watching TV, I began to go to bed earlier and get up much earlier than I had previously and I seemed to have an unlimited amount of energy. I rarely got sick and I was normally always in a good mood. At the end of high school my dad joking said to me I can start watching TV again now if I want to. I had completely forgotten about what he had said six years earlier, but what made me laugh was the fact that I was so angry with him when he told me “no more TV”. This plan of his not only worked on the level for which he had intended it but personally for me it changed my life. Even to this day I still do not watch TV.
I don’t generally tell people I don’t watch TV and certainly don’t preach to the people I meet to stop watching TV but it’s a funny thing when someone finds out that I never watch TV, as the first thing they think is how do I know what’s going on in the world. I simply tell them there are plenty of other ways to stay informed which are quicker and more accurate than television. The second question they ask is what do I do instead of watching TV? This is where I might preach a little bit but only if they ask. Give it a try, it might just change your life!
If you enjoyed this article check out another article on this website The Dangers of Television for a real look at the effect television can have on your life.
If you find this site helpful, please leave a donation for John
Other Related Posts:-
April 9th, 2007 at 6:16 am
This is true for me also. I could not afford cable tv, and that would have been the only way that I could have been able to watch Tv. But since I did not have the means to afford it at the time, I simply read books to keep me busy. I have gained a wealth of knowledge and I have broken the Tv dependency forever I feel. I would much rather read than to watch the tube even to this day.
Tim
May 10th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Wow. Lucky lucky you.
My lifesucking problem is not really the TV, but my computer. I pretty much spend all of my free time sitting in front of my conputer. There’s lots of interesting things I can spend my time on on the internet of course, but as you would with a TV, most of my time online I spend of meaningless things.
I’ve just started a blog (my 1st), and I’m contributing/participating in a few forums etc. If it’s possible, I will try staying off of my computer when not writing articles, blogging and checking the forums (for the topics I’m interested in only).
Yes indeed, you’ve opened my eyes. Excellent blog-entry.
-Jan