Trevor and I have made a MAJOR life decision. He and I are… getting rid of our cable. !!!!! I seriously never thought I would type those words, being a serious television addict. We had a long talk last night about changing our current lifestyle. This is something we have been wanting to do for a while (the lifestyle change, not cable), and we decided that this was a good first step that would give us enough of a kick in the butt to make a difference.
This decision has many different layers to it. Firstly, it will help us to get closer as a family and spend our free WITH each other, rather than just NEXT to each watching TV. It’s too easy to come home, flip on the television and waste the hours away. I know that I am really, really bad about this. I seriously adore watching TV, and I think that’s not such a good thing. We will spend our time, now, talking to each other, playing with Knox and improving our familial relationship.
Secondly, we want to change the way we live. We have been wanting to improve our relationship with God and become better Christians. This is going to be a long road and will not happen overnight, but I think removing the influence of TV is a good start. By doing so, we will have more time to focus on the important things our lives and have time to devote to this religious “improvement” if you will. Let me tell you, it is going to be HARD to give up my “Real Housewives” on Bravo, my dearly beloved TLC and Food Network. But for every “nice” thing on TV, there is also a not-so-nice thing right behind it. Nixing the satellite dish will help us resist temptation because I know that I would not be able to watch less if it was still available to me.
Today’s society can be pretty depressing to think about- there is so much negativity and generally bad stuff out there. We really want to expose Knox to the best things possible and leave out all of the filth, violence, etc. the modern media feeds us. We aren’t going to become technology haters- we’re still going to use our televisions- we have hundreds of DVDs, so we can still have a family movie night, but the gist is that we don’t want to get consumed by it any longer. I will keep you guys updated on my satellite withdrawal (which will surely occur) and let you know how this experiment turns out. For now, DirecTV, fare well. And give me that extra $100 a month… I need some new jeans.
Because I would rather spend my time watching him:
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I just had to comment- I think nixing the television is a great idea! That is something I want to do myself, but we don't live by ourselves so we can't get rid of the television until we move into our new place. But the more I think about it, what I watch on t.v. is pointless and becoming stupid. I'm more addicted to night time shows like desperate housewives, etc. But this forces you to spend time doing more productive things, so kuddos to you! I can't wait to hear how things go…hopefully this will give me the courage to do the same in the next few months.
You two may have very well lost your minds. We've been without it for over two weeks now and it sucks.
BUT, I do really hope you enjoy the new cable free life!!! It sounds like you guys have a good plan! Maybe it'll give you guys a good reason to come visit us more often….
Hey! I love reading your blog but have never commented before. I love that you've made the step of cancelling your cable. My husband and I decided to do this although our baby isn't here yet, and while we still watch movies and a few shows on Digital TV, we aren't as consumed by the TV any longer. I think it has been great for our relationship with each other as well as our relationship with God and I think we as a family will be closer because of it. I miss my food network and TLC, my discovery channel and animal planet, but it's ok. You get used to it. As a kid my family did not have cable or anything and had a family movie night once a week. It was a special treat for us to watch a movie together, but we did so many memorable things during that time that we would've been watching TV that mean a lot to me as an adult–we played board games, my mom read aloud to us, we had family devotions every night, we read books, we talked…it was really a great way to grow up. I hope to give our baby the same experience. All that to say…"You go girl!"
You won't regret it! We got rid of our Direct tv a few weeks ago and of course missed it at first, but it has been great. My husband and I spend time playing games and just talking. We also started a bible study that has been so nice! Good luck!
You will not regret getting rid of it. 3 years ago when our daughter was born, we got rid of our cable and and it was the best thing we ever did. We spent so much more time together as a family and we still had our Netflix so Hubby and I could settle in with a movie after the baby was asleep. It also saved us a nice chunk of change each month. We have since moved and bought an HD TV and we struggled with cable or no cable. I am a serious TV addict and love to watch tv but it wastes so much time. And now that the Peanut is 3, she absorbs so much more that we wanted to limit what she was exposed to to. Hubby did a bunch of research and found us a HD TV antenna that is not ghetto and we now get about a dozen HD channels – all local with 4 public stations. We still get a little TV like LOST and Castle (our 2 shows that we never miss) but we also watch NOVA, Austin City Limits (rocks!!), Independent Lens and few really great educational programs on our 4 public stations. And kiddo watches Sesame Street or Curious George.
The adjustment is tough but good luck!
We don't regret it AT ALL! Best decision we've made since getting knocked up!
dear Lord- i can't do it. i love my shows too much- i DID bring up the idea to the hubs & he nearly stopped breathing.
"NO ESPN!? NO NFL NETWORK!? NO WAY!"
so that's that
but we should go to church more- i think the big man upstairs is starting to frown. eek.
Oh wow! that's rough! but you have good intentions and meanings that will help you get through lol, at least u have abc and nbc right? haha..i know you'll be a ok!
Good for you guys!! I seriously don't know what we would do with ourselves if we got rid of cable! Probably just stare at each other & have thumb wars.
Let us know how it goes!!
Once I go back to work in September, we're planning on doing the same thing. Thanks for helping be my inspiration!
Great decision! If more Christians would apply Phillipians 4:8 to what they watch on TV it would have a serious effect on ratings and most of those shows wouldn't be able to stay on TV-and America would be a much better place. Good luck-your little one is certainly worth it.